Researchers around the world are looking for ways to fight Alzheimer’s disease. A new American drug has now succeeded in slowing the progression of the brain-damaging disease in its early stages by 60 percent. However, side effects such as brain swelling and cerebral hemorrhage are common.
Brain swelling occurred in more than four in ten patients with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease. Another 31 percent of the study participants had a cerebral hemorrhage after taking donanemab. In the group that received a placebo, this was 14 percent. Three deaths have been associated with the treatment.
monitoring required
Donanemab is the new Alzheimer’s drug from the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, reports the n-tv news channel. “These side effects should not be taken lightly,” but most cases are manageable, said study leader Liana Apostolova of the Indiana University School of Medicine. This may be by stopping the drug or by regular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The American pharmaceutical company had already published the first data in May. At the time, the new drug was said to slow cognitive decline by 29 percent compared to a placebo. The researchers have now found that donanemab can slow the progression of the brain-damaging disease in its early stages by as much as 60 percent. Specifically, deposits of the protein beta-amyloid are removed from the brain.
The data underlines that early diagnosis can really change the course of Alzheimer’s, said Lily board member Anne White. The drug is said to continue to have benefits months after stopping. According to a specialist article in the journal JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association, note), in which the full study results are published, this should be considered in relation to the “harm of these drugs”.
More and more people with dementia
According to the WHO, 55 million people worldwide suffer from dementia, most of them from Alzheimer’s disease. This is a neurodegenerative disease that mainly affects people over the age of 65. Symptoms include memory, language, spatial and temporal orientation. The disease is named after the doctor Alois Alzheimer, who first described the disease in 1906.
Source: Krone
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