Early Study Results Suggest Experimental Drug Could Slow Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer's Patients (cnn.com) 51
Eli Lilly and Company's experimental intravenous drug donanemab "could slow the cognitive decline of patients with Alzheimer's disease," reports CNN, citing early clinical trial results, published today in The New England Journal of Medicine:
The study included 257 patients with early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease; 131 received donanemab, while 126 received a placebo. The researchers found donanemab slowed the decline of cognition and daily function in Alzheimer's patients by 32% after 76 weeks, compared to those who received a placebo. Taken over 18 months, that 32% slowing of decline could be noticeably impactful for Alzheimer's patients, noted Maria Carrillo, chief science officer at the Alzheimer's Association, who was not involved in the study. "Out of 18 months, in comparison to the people that did not get the drug, these folks were declining six months slower," Carrillo said. "That's six more months of better cognition, better memories, better enjoyable times with your family...."
"This has a lot of potential," Carrillo added. "It could be a first step towards slowing more significantly, or stopping, cognitive decline in these earlier stages, which would really be transformational for our field..."
The researchers also looked at the drug's impact on the buildup of amyloid beta plaque and tau proteins, which are considered hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. At 52 weeks, almost 60% of participants had reached amyloid-negative status, meaning their levels were at those of otherwise healthy people. At 76 weeks, amyloid plaque levels — measured in centiloids — decreased by 85 centiloids more than in those who received the placebo, the researchers reported...
"We are extremely pleased about these positive findings for donanemab as a potential therapy for people living with Alzheimer's disease, the only leading cause of death without a treatment that slows disease progression," Dr. Mark Mintun, Eli Lilly's vice president of pain and neurodegeneration, said in a January statement announcing the trial results...
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, and currently affects 6.2 million Americans age 65 and older, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
"This has a lot of potential," Carrillo added. "It could be a first step towards slowing more significantly, or stopping, cognitive decline in these earlier stages, which would really be transformational for our field..."
The researchers also looked at the drug's impact on the buildup of amyloid beta plaque and tau proteins, which are considered hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. At 52 weeks, almost 60% of participants had reached amyloid-negative status, meaning their levels were at those of otherwise healthy people. At 76 weeks, amyloid plaque levels — measured in centiloids — decreased by 85 centiloids more than in those who received the placebo, the researchers reported...
"We are extremely pleased about these positive findings for donanemab as a potential therapy for people living with Alzheimer's disease, the only leading cause of death without a treatment that slows disease progression," Dr. Mark Mintun, Eli Lilly's vice president of pain and neurodegeneration, said in a January statement announcing the trial results...
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, and currently affects 6.2 million Americans age 65 and older, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
Aging is not a law of physics (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yeah, but it needs to be a patch or a monthly injection or something. Who's going to remember to take a daily alzheimers pill?
Alzhiemers test (Score:2)
I finally decided to get tested for alzhiemers so with reluctance I vistied the on-line alzheimer's information page for the first time and I noticed all the links were purple.
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Damn! â" Who could have used your computer for researching alzheimer's disease?! =-|
Donanemab (Score:3)
The drug targets amyloid plaques in the brain that seem to be associated with Alzheimer's.
Only another 6 months. (Score:2)
Yeah, but this drug only gives the U.S. another 6 months before a Constitutional Crisis.
- a treatment, not a cure - (Score:1)
Why would a corporation even look for a cure? There's no money in that!
My doctors want me on a drug that costs $3000/month for osteoporosis. In ten years with them, they have never suggested natural treatments like exercise, vitamin D, calcium, etc. All they know is patent drugs that offer a temporary reduction in risk.
Re: - a treatment, not a cure - (Score:5, Insightful)
So then take your homeopathic nonsense and prove them wrong. Stop taking "Big Pharma's" drug and go all natural. Come back to us with your results because obviously you know far more than people who have spent their entire lives learning and understanding how the body and its parts work.
P.S. Marijuana doesn't cure anything, including cancer. It only treats symptoms.
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There is no "homeopathic nonsense" about getting enough vitamins D, calcium, and exercise for the bone weakness common to us older folks. It's common place medical treatment, I find it difficult to imagine a modern physician wouldn't include them alongside expensive pharmacological options.
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Probably because they know that vitamin D an calcium supplements are of limited and use and while fitness is helpful, it's also of limited value for this condition and fitness compliance in older people is pretty low if they are not already physically fit.
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" homeopathic nonsense" ?
You obviously have no clue what homeopathic means. And you have no clue as to the 'economics' of big pharma. So enjoy a lifetime of paying for patents that are simply purified natural ingredients that you could have used at little cost. Those patents, like all the corrupt patents and other IP discussed frequently here, are a scam. Unlike software patents, these pharma patents often hold human lives for ransom at outrageous costs. In my particular case, they slightly reduce one risk
Cure is at tpeplus.com (Score:1)
Re:Cure is at tpeplus.com (Score:4, Informative)
Plasma aphereisis and replacing old plasma with albumin saline cures Alzheimer's and heals aging
Bullshit. It does not cure anything [nih.gov].
This trial suggests that PE with albumin replacement could slow cognitive and functional decline in AD, although further studies are warranted.
More research saying the exact same thing [medicaldialogues.in]. It may slow down symptoms of Alzheimers. It does not cure it.
Re: Cure is at tpeplus.com (Score:1)
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Re: Cure is at tpeplus.com (Score:1)
Cure is More Lucrative (Score:5, Interesting)
Why would a corporation even look for a cure? There's no money in that!
Are you kidding? There would be an absolute ton of money in a cure for Alzheimer's. They have already developed a $2.1M drug called Zolgensma that uses gene therapy to cure a rare childhood disorder with a single dose. You can charge a lot more for a cure than a treatment that does not even stop the disease but just slows it down.
There are enough people with Alzheimer's that you can still sell tons of it and you would have reduced production costs and can sell it for more especially given the huge savings in care costs incurred by people with Alzheimer's. Not to mention the huge positive publicity that will probably let you get away with a lot more price-gouging on your other drugs.
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Why would a corporation even look for a cure? There's no money in that!
Are you kidding? There would be an absolute ton of money in a cure for Alzheimer's.
There is a lot more money in creating an ongoing treatment for the rest of every patient's now extended life that can tweaked every 20 years to remove some side-effects and maintain patent. Rather than create an absolute cure that falls out of patent to become generic in 20 years, so anyone can make and sell it.
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In ten years with them, they have never suggested natural treatments like exercise, vitamin D, calcium, etc
That could be your doctor, because it's not doctors in general. Last June mine suggested vitamin D and exercise.
Re: - a treatment, not a cure - (Score:5, Interesting)
This exactly. When I found out (around age 30) that I had high cholesterol, every doctor I saw for the next ~15 years pushed me to diet and exercise. Funny thing is that I was 50lbs lighter back at 30 and working out 5 days a week. Later on, when I was informed my my aunt (a retired nurse) that most of the family was on a statin, so we have a family history, I took that info back to my doc and pushed to get on a statin. 10mg a day, and my annual full blood panel has looked nearly perfect for more than 15 yrs now.
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Too bad statins don't actually cure anything. They do have a myriad of side-effects.
And also, too bad that you're concerned about "high cholesterol" - cholesterol particles number by itself is not an indicator of cardiovascular disease or metabolic syndrome. Only oxidized LDL particles (which are the same as small-dense LDL, sdLDL) however, indicative of CVD and metabolic syndrome.
High healthy LDL is not a reason for worry. People who are on a ketogenic or carnivore/zerocarb diet will often have increased
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Too bad statins don't actually cure anything. They do have a myriad of side-effects.
Nobody claims it's a cure. It's a treatment that over and over has shown to save lives...I won't google it for you. As for side-effects, what drug doesn't? I've personally experienced none in over 17 years of usage, nor have any of my family.
And also, too bad that you're concerned about "high cholesterol" - cholesterol particles number by itself is not an indicator of cardiovascular disease or metabolic syndrome.
The term "high cholesterol" is often used synonymously for having high LDL, triglycerides, bad ratio of HDL to LDL, etc. It spares us the need to go into needless detail. I personally get an annual full blood panel, and at various times had all of the issues mentio
Re: - a treatment, not a cure - (Score:2)
My doctor specifically said they didn't want to put me on a statin because it was likely even the lowest dose would cause muscle cramps and impede my athletic endeavours, which they thought was more important. Maybe when I get to 50 or 60 Iâ(TM)ll ask for a statin. Glad to hear it worked for you, though.
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I'm not a medical professional, but have two close friends, and a brother-in-law who are all docs, along with my own doc, who is one of the Washingtonian's "Top Docs" several years running, who I do rely on for advice. I'm glad you're relying upon your doc instead of some random internet person (me). All that aside, I've never heard of it impeding athletics. On the other hand, I had a former coworker tell me he had to quit Lipitor due to cramping. I decided to google athletic performance and statins in
Slows the progression? (Score:2)
Meanwhile, study [springeropen.com] after [lww.com] study [nih.gov] has shown that low-dose lithium also very nearly stops the progression of Alzheimer's, and in some cases, actually reverses the cognitive decline. (And, at least in mouse models, this is also true for Parkinson's.) Yet outside of a few research papers, almost nobody is talking about this. The doctors seem to just want to prescribe some expensive pharmaceutical product — presumably because they get a kickback from the drug companies.
I mean sure, having extra tools to he
Well lithium is cheap (Score:2)
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Just wait until battery-powered vehicles take off. The folks not investing in medical lithium right now are missing an opportunity. :-)
Perfect timing (Score:3)
That's some mighty fortunate timing for Eli Lilly.
Otherwise the only recent news [reuters.com] about them might seem to paint them in a completely different light.
Glyphosate (Score:1)
It connects agro. chemicals with gluten sensitivity which allows plaque build up in the brain. I didn't know those plaques could be seen on MRIs.
Deja Vu drug. (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, so this will keep Slashdot from repeated postings of a story?
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No, can't fix dumb. But we'll recognize and complain about them faster.
What That Really Is (Score:2)
It's not six more months of any kind of decent life. It's six more months the hospitals and doctors can bill.
Especially relevant here (Score:1)
Good news for the aging slashdot crowd. They're already past the point of no return. Look at how they treat every new technology or idea that gets posted.
Slow cognitive decline (Score:2)
It only has to work until 2024.