A new hope
Alzheimer ’ s Drug approved in US ‘ offers hope ’ to millions .
By Conor Burke
Regulators in the US have approved the first new medication for Alzheimer ’ s in nearly two decades .
Aducanumab is the first medication intended to slow cognitive decline in people in the early stages of Alzheimer ’ s . It includes antibodies designed to attach to and remove amyloid plaques which are thought to cause the damage in the brain that leads to Alzheimer ’ s disease .
The Food and Drug administration conditionally approved the use of Aducanumab , which will go by the brand name Aduhelm .
“ Its approval is based on the fact that the antibody definitely clears the amyloid plaques out of the brain . And then the assumption that that will benefit the patient in the long run ,” said Professor Christopher Rowe .
Rowe is the Director of the Australian Dementia Network at the University of Melbourne and he told Aged Care Insite that the trials of aducanumab are very promising , and this is part of a growing body of positive results in this area .
“ In one of the three trials , they did say that there was a 30 per cent slowing in the rate of decline in memory and thinking and function of day-to-day activities . So , there ’ s a good signal there ,” he said .
“ What really makes me much more confident about it is the data that the FDA couldn ’ t consider . There are three other companies who have got anti-amyloid antibody drugs .
“ They all cleared the amyloid antibodies and they ’ ve all consistently shown this
30 per cent slowing of cognitive decline . So that ’ s memory and thinking .
“ Given there ’ s other information out there in the wider world , it does look like it ’ s a pretty consistent finding now that if you get the amyloid plaques out of the brain in people who have mild dementia , you slow their rate of decline .”
TRIAL AND ERROR The announcement comes as a surprise to some . As recently as 2019 aducanumab trials were paused as early results found it was not likely to benefit patients .
Further analysis brought the trials back to life ; however the FDA approval is conditional on manufacturer Biogen conducting further clinical trials .
Some worry that as the drug has been approved , and will be available to Americans via a doctor ’ s prescription , Biogen might struggle to get participants for a new trial .
Associate Professor Kathryn Goozee from KaRa Minds , who is running an Australian clinical trial of the drug , does not share that concern .
“ I feel that we ’ re cognisant of the effect of these results , whilst encouraging , it ’ s early days . We need to keep gathering more data and more research , and there ’ s other studies of a similar approach that are also running ,” she told Aged Care Insite . “ And I think it ’ s not going to change current clinical practice within Australia . Maybe one of the good things that might come from this , is perhaps raising awareness of the importance of
“ It ’ s a good start and it ’ s stimulating excitement and further investments in research and development .
research and to get more volunteers to come forward for studies .”
HOPE AND TIME Rowe says that what this drug can offer people in the early stages of Alzheimer ’ s is time .
“ It just slows the rate of decline . And that should buy you a couple of years of a reasonable life .”
He says that if you are diagnosed now you have approximately a 10-year life expectancy , the last years of which are often spent with severe dementia .
“ If you can slow that 10-year period down by 30 per cent , you ’ re gaining a couple of years before you get to the severe dementia phase stage for at least a year anyway ; one to two years , I would say . “ It ’ s just the beginning . It ’ s a conditional approval . But it ’ s a good start and it ’ s stimulating excitement and further investments in research and development of treatments for Alzheimer ’ s disease . So , I think it ’ s a very good thing .” For Goozee , this drug has the potential to change lives . “ It offers hope .” The drug is currently under review by the Therapeutic Goods Administration ( TGA ) in Australia with an announcement expected early in 2022 .
Someone in the world develops dementia every 3 seconds . There were over 50 million people worldwide living with dementia in 2020 . This number is expected to almost double every 20 years , reaching 82 million in 2030 and 152 million in 2050 . ■
4 agedcareinsite . com . au