Scientists on Wednesday praised the results of a clinical trial confirming that a new drug slows cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients, but also pointed to some important side effects.
The full results of the advanced clinical trial (phase III), conducted with approximately 1,800 people over 18 months, confirmed a 27% reduction in cognitive impairment in patients who received lecanemab, a drug developed by the Japanese pharmaceutical group Eisai and the US Biogen .
However, the results, published this Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, also point to side effects, some of them serious.
A total of 17.3% of patients receiving lecanemab experienced cerebral haemorrhages compared to 9% of patients in the placebo group. In addition, 12.6% of lecanemab-treated patients experienced cerebral edema and only 1.7% in the placebo group.
The overall mortality rate is about the same in both groups (0.7% in people who received lecanemab, 0.8% in those who received placebo).
“It is the first drug that offers a real treatment option for people with Alzheimer’s,” says Bart De Strooper, director of the British Institute for Dementia Research.
“While the clinical benefits seem somewhat limited, they are expected to become more apparent if the drug is given over a longer period of time,” he said.
In Alzheimer’s disease, two key proteins — tau and another called beta-amyloid — gradually build up abnormally in the brain, causing brain cells to die and the brain to shrink. This causes memory loss and an increasing inability to perform daily tasks.
Alzheimer’s affects more than 40 million people worldwide.
Lecanemab targets beta-amyloid protein deposits, but only in the early stages of the disease, which may limit its use as Alzheimer’s disease is often diagnosed late.
Source: DN
