New Drugs Show Signs of Slowing Alzheimer’s
New Drugs Show Signs of Slowing Alzheimer’s
Scheltens is testing a drug called gantenerumab that proved to reduce both beta amyloid and another toxic protein called tau in people with Alzheimer’s. But that drug also showed no benefits for patients -- they didn’t do any better on tests of thinking and memory or function in their daily lives than people who were taking a placebo. Scheltens thinks that might be because researchers haven’t been testing a high enough dose of the drug.
“On a disease-modifying therapy, people don’t notice that they’re being treated because over time, the gradual differences are so slowly changing, you don’t know how to compare yourself with where you are a year ago,” he said.
Solanezumab is given through a vein (IV) every 4 weeks, and it has some side effects, including headaches and signs of brain swelling that can be detected on brain scans. Those side effects were considered to be manageable, though. Also, the effect of "biologic" drugs like these can also wear off over time if the immune system starts to react to them.
Roughly 50% of patients have dropped out of the study over time. These are people who know they have Alzheimer’s disease -- an illness which is ultimately fatal -- and are getting a cutting-edge medication for free. Generally, if people are seeing benefits from experimental drugs like these, they clamor to stay in clinical studies so they can continue to have access to the drug.
But researchers disputed that notion. They said the high drop-out rate was to be expected in a clinical trial setting where older patients were being asked to have regular tests and brain scans.
“That is not surprising to us at all. I think it reflects age, other illnesses, and the burden of study procedures that all come together to cause people to drop out,” said Aisen.
When asked if he thought people with Alzheimer's would be willing to pay large amounts of money to go on a drug that offers little apparent benefit and to stay on that medicine indefinitely, Aisen said, “I do.”
New Drugs Show Signs of Slowing Alzheimer’s
Slowing Alzheimer’s in Its Early Stages continued...
Scheltens is testing a drug called gantenerumab that proved to reduce both beta amyloid and another toxic protein called tau in people with Alzheimer’s. But that drug also showed no benefits for patients -- they didn’t do any better on tests of thinking and memory or function in their daily lives than people who were taking a placebo. Scheltens thinks that might be because researchers haven’t been testing a high enough dose of the drug.
“On a disease-modifying therapy, people don’t notice that they’re being treated because over time, the gradual differences are so slowly changing, you don’t know how to compare yourself with where you are a year ago,” he said.
Solanezumab is given through a vein (IV) every 4 weeks, and it has some side effects, including headaches and signs of brain swelling that can be detected on brain scans. Those side effects were considered to be manageable, though. Also, the effect of "biologic" drugs like these can also wear off over time if the immune system starts to react to them.
Roughly 50% of patients have dropped out of the study over time. These are people who know they have Alzheimer’s disease -- an illness which is ultimately fatal -- and are getting a cutting-edge medication for free. Generally, if people are seeing benefits from experimental drugs like these, they clamor to stay in clinical studies so they can continue to have access to the drug.
But researchers disputed that notion. They said the high drop-out rate was to be expected in a clinical trial setting where older patients were being asked to have regular tests and brain scans.
“That is not surprising to us at all. I think it reflects age, other illnesses, and the burden of study procedures that all come together to cause people to drop out,” said Aisen.
When asked if he thought people with Alzheimer's would be willing to pay large amounts of money to go on a drug that offers little apparent benefit and to stay on that medicine indefinitely, Aisen said, “I do.”
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