Lecanemab: the Alzheimer’s drug that could herald a cure

A cure for Alzheimer’s could be close after a drug was proven to slow the onset of the disease for the first time.

A study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that lecanemab, which is delivered as a fortnightly intravenous drip, slowed memory decline by 27% over 18 months. The treatment reverses pathological changes in the brain, by locating and eliminating a toxic protein called amyloid that builds up in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, explained New Scientist, in which people become “forgetful and confused, usually starting in older age”.

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The “momentous and historic” results from the study were presented last night at a “packed conference” of the world’s leading scientists and doctors in San Francisco, said The Times.

The findings of the phase-three clinical trial are the “first to ever show a drug can slow Alzheimer’s”, said The Telegraph, and scientists believe the breakthrough could be “the beginning of the end” for the disease. Alzheimer’s Research UK said the findings were “momentous”.

However, cautioned the BBC, the results are not a miracle cure because the disease continued to “rob people of their brain power”, albeit more slowly.

The researchers recruited almost 1,800 people with early-onset Alzheimer’s for the study and graded them on their symptoms. In the placebo group, the average score for a patient’s disease had worsened by 1.66. Among the treatment cohort, this was 1.21, a 27% slowing.

The trial raised “safety concerns”, said CNN, because there were “serious adverse events” in 14% of the lecanemab group. The most common adverse events in the drug group were reactions to the intravenous infusions and abnormalities on their MRIs, such as brain swelling and brain bleeding, noted the broadcaster.