What you should know about the new Alzheimer’s drug

An experimental Alzheimer’s drug is effective in slowing cognitive decline for some patients, according to the findings of a new clinical trial.

The drug, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, may be the first significant treatment advance in decades.

The drug, called lecanemab, is a humanized monoclonal antibody manufactured by Biogen and Eisai and administered intravenously every two weeks. It targets beta amyloid, a toxic protein that accumulates to form plaques in the brain and is believed to be a significant driver of Alzheimer’s.

“This is really going to transform the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.”

The international double-blind phase 3 clinical trial followed nearly 1,800 participants for 18 months. According to the study’s authors, the drug “resulted in moderately less decline on measures of cognition and function,” particularly in patients in the early stages of the disease with mild cognitive symptoms.

The study also showed that some patients experienced brain swelling, which has been observed in other experimental drugs that target amyloid beta.

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Alzheimer’s Disease Care, Research and Education Program (AD-CARE), which is led by Anton Porsteinsson, has been involved in more than 200 clinical studies for Alzheimer’s disease since 1986 and served as a study site for both the phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of lecanemab.

Here, Porsteinsson talks about what the new findings mean for people with Alzheimer’s disease:

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