For the first time, scientists have developed a drug which slows the destruction of the brain in Alzheimer's patients. After decades of failure, the new medicine known as Lecanemab, has been heralded a momentous moment for researchers, as it shows that a new era of drugs to treat the most common form of dementia is possible.
However, the treatment only has a small effect and its impact on people's daily lives has been debated, BBC News reports. The drug also is said to currently only work in the early stages of the disease, so most people would miss out unless there is a medical revolution in spotting the condition sooner.
But after years of disappointment in the search for a treatment, the results of the trial for Lecanemab are being seen as a vital turning point. Alzheimer's Research UK has gone on to call the findings "momentous".
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Health expert Dr Hilary Jones also appeared on Good Morning Britain today (Nov 30) to discuss the new findings. Speaking to host Charlotte Hawkins, he said the medicine is "being hailed as a historic breakthrough."
Lecanemab works by attacking the sticky gunge - called beta amyloid - that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. Up to now, people with the disease can only be given drugs to help manage their symptoms, rather than anything to change the course of the condition.
Professor Sir John Hardy, who was one of the world's leading researches behind the idea of targeting amyloid 30 years ago, said the news was "historic" and that he was optimistic that "we're seeing the beginning of Alzheimer's therapies". Professor Tara Spires-Jones, from the University of Edinburgh, said the results were "a big deal because we've had a 100 per cent failure rate for a long time".
Lecanemab is an antibody - like the ones the body makes to attack bacteria - that has been engineered to tell the immune system to clear amyloid from the brain. Amyloid clumps together in the spaces between neurons in the brain, forming plaques.
The trial saw 1,795 volunteers with early stage Alzheimer's take part. Infusions of the medicine were given every fortnight.
The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and were presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease conference in San Francisco. They showed that although the disease continued to reduce people's brain power, the decline was slowed in around a quarter of people over the course of 18 months of treatment.
Regulators in the US are already assessing the date and will soon decide whether Lecanemab can be approved for wider use. The drug was developed by pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Biogen, which plan to begin the approval process in other countries next year.
Sir John said: "Today marks a truly exciting day for dementia research. I’m incredibly proud of how far we’ve come since our Alzheimer’s Society-funded research in 1989. A drug like Lecanemab becoming available on the NHS would be a massive triumph, but challenges remain around getting drugs to the right people at the right time – we need changes in our health system’s infrastructure to make sure we’re ready."
He added: "This trial is an important first step, and I truly believe it represents the beginning of the end. These results convincingly demonstrate, for the first time, the link between removing amyloid and slowing the progress of Alzheimer’s disease. The first step is the hardest, and we now know exactly what we need to do to develop effective drugs."
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