Thursday, December 1, 2022

As Noted In Yesterday's Masthead, There Is Reason To Be Hopeful -- About Alzheimer's... But The Side Effects Here... Are Serious.


We won't drone on at any length, as it was the feature of about 30-some MSM articles yesterday morning.

It is promising -- and looks to put a dent in Lilly's R&D efforts (despite what this investing "club" intones) -- the company may need to switch gears (away from Aduhelm), and alter its overall approach. . . but little by little, we seeing some novel, and nice approaches to solving the puzzle that is a very high-burden geriatric disease. Here is NPR's reporting of yesterday, on it all:

. . .An experimental drug that removes a substance called amyloid from the brain appears to slow down Alzheimer's disease.

The drug, called lecanemab, reduced the rate of cognitive decline by 27% in a study of nearly 1,800 people in the early stages of Alzheimer's, scientists reported at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease meeting in San Francisco. . . .

About one in five people who got lecanemab in the study experienced an adverse event, such as swelling or bleeding in the brain. People also reported symptoms including headaches, visual disturbances, and confusion.

The treatment has been linked to two deaths.

But most side effects are "mild to moderate," says Dr. Marwan Sabbagh of the Barrow Neurological Institute, who gave a presentation on lecanemab's safety. And the number of abnormalities detected on brain scans was "within expectations. . . ."


Now you know. But expect some retooling at Lilly R&D, now -- out, into the sunshine.



नमस्ते

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