Berlin
A new drug against Alzheimer’s delays the consequences of the disease. But a study shows that the side effects are serious.
In Germany, more and more people are suffering from Alzheimer’s. There is no cure, but drugs can delay the progression of the disease. A new drug from the USA is now giving us some hope: according to a study by the US manufacturer Eli Lilly, donanemab slows the progression of the disease in the early stages. The pharmaceutical company intends to apply for approval from the US Food and Drug Administration before the end of this quarter.
The drug is based on the antibody donanemab. This targets so-called amyloid plaques in the patient’s brain. Such deposits of proteins in the brain, years before the first symptoms appear, are characteristic of Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia.
The active ingredient can neither stop nor reverse the mental degradation, according to the Study of the pharmaceutical company but delay it by around 35 percent. The study results on donanemab are “real progress for the patients,” said Frank Jessen, director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Hospital in Cologne, the German Press Agency.
In principle, the effect of donanemab and lecanemab is comparable. “For a precise comparison, you have to see the study data and hopefully also gain comparative experience with these substances in the future in Germany.”
Alzheimer’s drug: Application for approval in Europe likely
Lecanemab is also a drug used to treat Alzheimer and in a sense the forerunner of donanemab. The active ingredient was approved in the USA at the beginning of the year. Approval has also been applied for in the EU. However, this is still pending.
According to Linda Thienpont, director of science at the non-profit Alzheimer’s Research Initiative, the study results on the effects of donanemab are “encouraging”. However, the expert calls the side effects “very questionable” in a press release.
Donanemab: High probability of side effects
Because the data published so far indicate that donanemab is more efficient in delaying cognitive decline than lecanemab. But at the same time, the phase 3 study shows that the drug has serious side effects can go together.
Accordingly, brain swelling occurred in 24 percent of the test persons. In most cases, these were not as strong as Thienpont explained when asked by our editors, but there were still three deaths given and side effects of donanemab are significantly more common overall than with lecanemab.
“It has to be weighed up carefully whether the benefit and risk are in an acceptable relationship,” said Thienpont. There are urgent questions about the safety of the active substance to be clarified.
Donanemab: No cure for Alzheimer’s
In addition, this is aimed drug exclusively to people with Alzheimer’s disease in the early stages of the disease who are not yet suffering from serious mental losses.
“After Leqembi, donanemab is the second drug that interferes with the disease mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease and can slow down cognitive decline, but only in the early stages of the disease,” explains Thienpont. Although donanemab appears to be more effective, this active substance cannot stop the disease either. Leqembi is an antibody drug based on lecanemab.
“People in an advanced stage of the disease will probably not benefit from donanemab if it is approved,” says the expert.
More articles from this category can be found here: Life
