Experts speak of a “milestone”: new therapies can stop Alzheimer’s disease

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Alzheimer’s disease is still incurable. There are two drugs now on the verge of approval, but at least they are effective at slowing the process. One of them has already been approved in the US. Corresponding applications have been submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Dorothee Saur, neurologist at Leipzig University Hospital, said in an interview published by her university: “This is a real milestone, we have been waiting for this for a long time. To date, we have no effective therapies to influence the process of cognitive decline that occurs in dementia. The two therapies now being approved target exactly this: they slow the loss of brain and memory performance.”

Stimulating the immune system

In people with dementia, so-called amyloid plaques form in the brain, which destroy nerve cells. The effectiveness of the two new therapies is that the antibodies administered stimulate the immune system so that it “attacks and removes” existing amyloid deposits in the brain, Saur explains. “This can be easily understood with special PET brain scans – existing deposits disappear almost completely.”

However, this has not stopped the progression of the disease, but only significantly slowed it down. “But that makes a big difference for those affected: it could mean extra years of life with fewer limitations,” says the neurologist.

Delay up to 30 percent

According to Saur, the therapies open up new possibilities, especially for people in the very early stages of dementia. “With the new agents, we can start treatment in this phase and delay progression by up to 30 percent.” The largely intact brain functions in patients in the early stages may not deteriorate as quickly.

Saur assumes the therapies will be approved for early disease progression. The neurologist expects this to happen in early summer 2024. At the same time, she emphasizes the need for further research in this area: “Although the therapy is generally considered well tolerated, everyone responds individually and here too there are adverse reactions that must be detected and treated in a timely manner. In addition, although amyloid deposition can now be controlled, the development of the second pathogen of Alzheimer’s disease, the altered tau proteins, has not yet progressed. (no)

Source: Blick