Discovering a promising drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease

 

Discovering a promising drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease

• Researchers conducting clinical trials for a new drug to combat Alzheimer's described the approval of this drug, which slows the progression of the disease, as a "landmark step."

• The breakthrough came after decades of failed attempts and has led to hope among experts that it will pave the way for treatments that could eventually lead to the cure of Alzheimer's disease, considered one of the most important public health problems, which affects more than 40 million people around the world.

• The drug "likanimap"

Clinical trials of the drug "licanemab" developed by two American and Japanese companies came encouraging to researchers.

This drug has also shown its ability to reduce the decrease in the general mental skills of Alzheimer's patients by 27% in 18 months - a modest but significant result, according to the British newspaper "The Guardian".

And the drug " likianmap "is an antibody therapy that removes protein blocks" beta-amyloid " that accumulate in the brain.

• The very first medication

"This is the first medicine that gives a viable therapy option for Alzheimer's patients," said Bart de Strober, director of the Dementia Research Institute at University College London.

Strober continued, "While the clinical advantages appear to be somewhat limited, they are anticipated to get stronger with time.

The results of clinical trials involving 1800 patients were published in the medical journal "New England Journal of Medicine".

Scientists also found that likanimab, when administered intravenously by drip every two weeks, slows down memory deterioration by 27% over 18 months.

• A new era

In turn, professor of clinical neurology and director of the Dementia Research Center at the University of California at Los Angeles, Nick Fox, said: "I think it confirms a new era for Alzheimer's disease. He noted that this era comes after 20 years of serious work on anti-amyloid immunotherapies by scientists.

In addition, the positive results of this drug are expected to lead to a new generation of drugs that provide better control of Alzheimer's disease.

Dr Richard Oakley, from the Alzheimer's Society UK, said the findings could be a game changer.

"There is still a long way to go before we can see licanimab available," he added. We must remember that licanimab can only be given to persons with early-onset Alzheimer's disease who have amyloid in their brain, which means that those with other forms of dementia or in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease cannot benefit from this treatment."

The discovery comes after decades of failure in the field and has emboldened experts to say Alzheimer's disease - which affects 30 million people worldwide - is treatable.

Another drug developed by Biogen called Aduhelm, which also targets amyloid plaques, has raised a lot of hopes for 2021 by becoming the first drug approved in the United States against the disease since 2003.

But it also caused controversy, as the US Medicines Agency disagreed with the opinion of an expert panel that considered that the treatment had not proven sufficiently effective during clinical trials, and the agency subsequently restricted its use for people with mild cases of the disease.