Lecanemab, lights and shadows on the new experimental drug against Alzheimer’s
The new experimental Alzheimer's drug, called lecanemab, produced by the pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Biogen, raises some doubts due to certain adverse effects. All the details
The one born from the collaboration between the Japanese Eisai and the American Biogen presents itself as an important new experimental drug against Alzheimer's disease. Lecanemab, this is the name of the medicine, seems to have shown a slowdown in the evolution of the disease, but has also caused some non-negligible adverse effects.
HOW IT WORKS
Lecanemab, the companies explain, is an antibody designed to tell the immune system to eliminate beta-amyloids from the brain. In fact, betamyloids are proteins which, by aggregating in the spaces between the neurons of the brain, form plaques, which can initiate or enhance the processes of Alzheimer 's disease.
THE EXPERIMENTATION
The large-scale study lasted 18 months and involved 1,795 volunteers aged between 50 and 90, all with early-stage Alzheimer's disease and evidence of betamilode by positron emission tomography (PET) or fluid analysis cerebrospinal.
Half of the participants received intravenous lecanemab (10 mg per kilogram of body weight every 2 weeks) and the other half a placebo.
THE RESULTS
The results, presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer Disease conference in San Francisco and published in the New England Journal of Medicine , "are not a miracle cure," writes the BBC .
The study found that lecanemab reduced amyloid beta markers in early Alzheimer's disease and resulted in a 'moderately less' decline in measures of cognition and function than placebo, but was associated with adverse events.
On an 18-point scale ranging from normal to severe dementia, those who received the drug improved by 0.45 points.
ADVERSE EVENTS
The new Alzheimer's drug, the authors say, resulted in infusion-related reactions in 26.4 percent of participants and beta-amyloid-related imaging abnormalities with edema or effusions in 12.6 percent.
Brain scans also revealed a risk of brain hemorrhage (17% of participants) and brain swelling (13%). 7% of people given the drug had to stop it due to side effects.
The researchers add that longer trials are needed to determine the efficacy and safety of lecanemab in early Alzheimer's disease.
Among other things, the stage of the disease on which it was tested is also a major limitation of the treatment since most people fail to detect the disease in its early stages.
ENTHUSIASM AND CAUTION
However, after decades of disappointments, the small achievement has been welcomed by many experts with enthusiasm.
Alzheimer's Research UK, reports the BBC , called the results 'epochal' and Professor Tara Spiers-Jones of the University of Edinburgh spoke of "great news because for a long time we had a 100% failure rate".
To date, in fact, there are only drugs to manage the symptoms but there is none that modifies the course of the disease. Other experts, however, believe that caution and further investigations into efficacy and safety are needed.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN
The lecanemab data, according to the British newspaper, are however already being evaluated by regulatory bodies in the United States, which will soon decide whether lecanemab can be approved for wider use and Eisai and Biogen plan to start the approval process in other countries next year.
THE NUMBERS OF ALZHEIMER
Alzheimer's Disease International says there are more than 55 million people with dementia worldwide and expects this number to rise to 139 million by 2050, with the largest increase in low- and middle-income countries. Already today, every 3 seconds, somewhere in the world, a new case occurs.
Furthermore, the global economic cost of dementia is very high, in fact, as the organization states: if 'dementia were a country, it would be the 14th largest economy in the world.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/lecanemab-luci-e-ombre-sul-nuovo-farmaco-sperimentale-contro-lalzheimer/ on Thu, 01 Dec 2022 14:43:57 +0000.