A groundbreaking development in Alzheimer's treatment has emerged, signaling a potential turning point in the fight against this devastating disease. The drug, lecanemab, was found to have a modest effect in treating the disease, but its implications have been hailed as momentous – marking a turning point in Alzheimer’s research and giving hope to millions across the globe. Widespread adoption of this treatment would necessitate a revolution in early detection methods. Lecanemab targets beta amyloid, a sticky substance that accumulates in Alzheimer's patients' brains, obstructing cognitive function.
This development has been hailed as "historic" by leading experts in the field and may pave the way for more effective Alzheimer's therapies. Currently, available drugs merely manage symptoms rather than addressing the underlying disease progression. Regulatory assessments in the US are already underway, with potential approval on the horizon. Eisai and Biogen, the pharmaceutical collaborators behind Lecanemab, plan to initiate the approval process in other nations in the coming year.
The news is particularly poignant for Professor Sir John Hardy (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology), as it represents a lifetime of work, by supporting a hypothesis that he first developed 30 years ago.
Professor Hardy said: “This trial is an important first step, and I truly believe it represents the beginning of the end. The amyloid theory has been around for 30 years so this has been a long time coming. It’s fantastic to receive this confirmation that we’ve been on the right track all along, as these results convincingly demonstrate, for the first time, the link between removing amyloid and slowing the progress of Alzheimer’s disease. The first step is the hardest, and we now know exactly what we need to do to develop effective drugs. It’s exciting to think that future work will build on this, and we will soon have life-changing treatments to tackle this disease. The trial results have shown us that there is a risk of side effects, including brain bleeds in a small number of cases. This doesn’t mean the drug can’t be administered, but that will be important to have rigorous safety monitoring in place for people receiving lecanemab, and further trials to fully understand and mitigate this risk.”
Source: Gallagher, James. BBC. "Alzheimer's drug lecanemab hailed as momentous breakthrough". https://www.bbc.com/news/health-63749586. 30/11/22. [Date accessed: 30/11/22]
Edited by: Manan Chordia
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