The FDA just approved a first-of-its-kind Alzheimer's treatment. But is it effective?


Despite questions surrounding its efficacy, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a groundbreaking new medication that attacks the underlying Alzheimer's disease process rather than treating just its symptoms, writes The New York Times. It is the first drug of its kind, and the first new Alzheimer's treatment in 18 years.
Aducanumab, the drug developed by biotech company Biogen and Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, reduces levels of amyloid, an Alzheimer's biomarker and protein that "clumps into plaques" in a patient's brain, the Times writes. However, experts and doctors remain divided over whether this will have a substantial-enough effect to warrant approval, particularly as amyloid protein reduction may help only patients early in their disease progression, Time reports. On top of that concern, clinical trials also saw instances of brain swelling or bleeding, leading others to wonder if the risks outweigh the benefits, writes the Times.
Critics cite two conflicting aducanumab clinical trials in explaining their hesitation — one study showed positive cognitive effects, and the other reportedly showed none at all. Biogen later claimed its "initial read of the data was incomplete," Time writes, and the FDA will now require the manufacturer to conduct another, post-approval trial to verify its claims. The infusion-based treatment will still be available to patients in the meantime, per the Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Even with outstanding questions about aducanumab's "modest" clinical effect, supporters view the drug's approval as a win in the fight against an incredibly debilitating disease, says Time. "What we are trying to do is to delay the disabling phases of the disease and preserve quality of life," said Dr. Stephen Salloway, one of the principal investigators for the aducanumab trials, "Although the data has issues, this drug offers some chance of doing that."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
How the woke right gained power in the US
Under the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
By The Week Staff
-
Crossword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff
-
Scientists find hint of alien life on distant world
Speed Read NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected a possible signature of life on planet K2-18b
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Katy Perry, Gayle King visit space on Bezos rocket
Speed Read Six well-known women went into lower orbit for 11 minutes
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Scientists map miles of wiring in mouse brain
Speed Read Researchers have created the 'largest and most detailed wiring diagram of a mammalian brain to date,' said Nature
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Scientists genetically revive extinct 'dire wolves'
Speed Read A 'de-extinction' company has revived the species made popular by HBO's 'Game of Thrones'
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Dark energy may not doom the universe, data suggests
Speed Read The dark energy pushing the universe apart appears to be weakening
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Pharaoh's tomb discovered for first time in 100 years
Speed Read This is the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun in 1922
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Scientists report optimal method to boil an egg
Speed Read It takes two temperatures of water to achieve and no fancy gadgets
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Europe records big leap in renewable energy
Speed Read Solar power overtook coal for the first time
By Peter Weber, The Week US