Alzheimer’s is a terrible situation to be connected to, especially if you are watching it happen to someone you love. I had that experience growing up with my great aunt and it was terrible to see the impact it had on my grandma and dad. Being two of her favorite people prior to developing the disease, my dad and grandma were the only two people that she could recognize toward the end of her life. Luckily, there might be a chance that others don’t have to watch this happen to their family like I did.
At a recent conference in San Diego, Biogen’s representative Samantha Haeberlein took her Alzheimer’s research filled audience by surprise. She revealed that her company had decided to revive their experimental drug on the disease, following its previous shut down. 7 months before the talk, the drug, aducanumab, was declared a failure. Recent studies with the drug reversed that declaration and determined it possible that the cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s could be slowed when paired with aducanumab. With high doses of the drug in one trial, data showed a 22% less cognitive decline after 78 weeks than its placebo. Unfortunately, the second trial did not support the first findings. This left it up in the air whether or not the drug was actually working.
The result of this news was a split of opinions. Many believe that this drug could be the beginning of a clinical win. Others don’t trust the sudden retraction of failure. With aducanumab being one of the few potential drugs that remain to target beta amyloid, the protein that causes Alzheimer’s, let’s hope Biogen is onto something.
Reference
Servick, K. (2019). Skepticism persists about revived Alzheimer’s drug after conference
presentation. Science. doi: 10.1126/science.aba4673
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ReplyDeleteI relate to the familial experiences with Alzheimer's. My grandmother has been diagnosed for years but it has just progressed to the point where she does not recognize any of her family anymore. It is an awful disease that no one should ever have to suffer. The importance of drugs and experimental drugs to help patients are huge. With every new drug trial there are risks to think about as well. As I read about aducanmab I also read into the amyloid-related imaging abnormalities also known as ARIA (Piazza, 2016). There is an increased risk antibody dose-dependent of severe negative issues (Piazza, 2016). In further research the study mentions a possible solution to the risk. The scientists believe that if the drug were to target biomarkers that will better balance of dosing effects (Piazza, 2016).
Piazza, Fabrizio, and Bengt Winblad. “Amyloid-Related Imaging Abnormalities (ARIA) in Immunotherapy Trials for Alzheimer’s Disease: Need for Prognostic Biomarkers?” Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 52, no. 2, 2016, pp. 417–420., doi:10.3233/jad-160122.
My grandfather and great grandmother (on different sides of the family) both had Alzheimer's, so this not only concerns me about my parents, but myself, my sisters and future generations. I have researched a great deal about Alzheimer's and watched a documentary about it being a possible Type 3 Diabetes. The researchers were looking at the glucose concentrations in the neurons which created the plaque buildup resulting in deterioration. Therefore, they were giving patients with early stages of Alzheimer's and Dementia insulin to see if it would reduce the long term plague build up and brain deterioration. The studies showed that the insulin injections improved memory and cognitive skills in patients with the early onset disease. Could this be the future of Alzheimer's disease?
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