Promising new drug in the treatment of mild Alzheimer's dementia – National

The Alzheimer's Association's annual conference revealed that a new drug has shown promising results in the treatment of mild Alzheimer's dementia, a disease that was up to now impossible to treat with drugs

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The drug, known as BAN2401, targets amyloid, a protein that accumulates in the brain and forms plaques which can compromise the nerve cells. It has been shown that he was able to slow the progression of mild cognitive impairment in 856 patients with early Alzheimer's.

"This is the first study of end-stage anti-amyloid antibodies to achieve statistically significant results at 18 months. the hypothesis of amyloid, "said Lynn Kramer, chief clinical officer and chief physician of the Neurology Business Group at Eisai, who developed the drug with Biogen, according to the Washington Post.

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This is particularly exciting because it could be the first drug used to treat the actual disease rather than just treating its symptoms. In addition, the fact that it works by reducing amyloid plaque accumulation means that it could slow the progression of the disease, and there is hope that early treatment can even help people to avoid the devastating effects of memory loss and cognitive decline

I think we just need some positive news, "said James Hendrix, director of global science initiatives at the Alzheimer's Association . "We are obviously very optimistic."

These results are similar to those of another drug targeting amyloid that was first tested two years ago. Aducanumab is being developed and tested by the same two companies behind BAN2401, and the end results of their studies are expected by 2020. However, Kramer has indicated that they will work to make BAN2401 (which test was much larger). ) available to patients as soon as possible

Time notes that the news on the Alzheimer's disease front has not been promising in 2018, AstraZeneca PLC, Pfizer and Merck putting an end to testing or to field research

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According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, there are currently 564,000 Canadians with dementia (of which Alzheimer's is the most common form), and this number is expected to rise to 937,000 over the next 15 years. The annual cost for Canadians with dementia is estimated at $ 10.4 billion