Memory disorders expert Zaldy Tan, MD, says new medications for Alzheimer's disease patients are on the horizon. Photo by Cedars-Sinai. |
Treatments for Alzheimer’s disease—a condition affecting more than 5 million Americans—have been slow to progress. But in mid-2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved aducanumab—marketed under the brand name Aduhelm—the first new drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease since 2003.
The once-a-month intravenous infusion is intended to slow cognitive decline in patients in the early stages of the disease by eliminating the amyloid plaque that accumulates in the brain in Alzheimer’s patients. However, studies have not found that eliminating the plaque in the brain reverses cognitive and functional impairment or preserves brain function. Additional questions remain about the treatment’s side effects—including swelling and bleeding in the brain— safety and effectiveness as well as how much of the cost will be shouldered by patients and their families.
The FDA approval, however, spurred momentum in the field, bringing attention to two new therapies—lecanemab and donanemab.
“These two up-and-coming medications are ‘cousins’ of aducanumab because all three drugs target amyloid plaques that form in the spaces between brain cells and are thought to play a central role in Alzheimer’s disease,” said Zaldy Tan, MD, MPH, medical director of the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders in the Department of Neurology. “What we don’t know yet is whether these new drugs will cause fewer side effects, or whether they will be more effective than aducanumab.”