US scientists have reported a new anti-amyloid drug may help reduce the risk of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease by 50 percent.
Anti-amyloid drugs target and remove amyloid-beta plaques in the brain, potentially slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s.
The scientists at Washington University in St Louis, whose study was reported in Lancet Neurology, tested the drug gantenerumab on people with a genetically inherited form of Alzheimer’s (for whom dementia is almost inevitable in early to mid-adulthood).
The trial began in 2012 when participants had either no symptoms or just mild cognitive symptoms; at this stage, they were within 15 years before to 10 years after their expected age of developing Alzheimer’s.
The trial initially ended in 2020 and showed gantenerumab significantly reduced levels of amyloid-beta and improved some other markers associated with Alzheimer’s – but no measurable cognitive benefits compared with the placebo group because neither group had yet developed symptoms.
Researchers then extended the study and upped the dosage to see how gantenerumab might work over a longer time; it did not make a significant difference for all groups, but for those taking the drug for the longest time (around 8 years) it reduced the risk of developing symptoms by 50 percent.
And since ‘some participants are only just reaching or have only just passed their expected age of disease onset’, as the study continues ‘this percentage may rise if participants remain symptom-free or fall if they develop the disease’, noted medicalnewstoday.com.
Senior study author Prof Randall Bateman commented: ‘Everyone in this study was destined to develop Alzheimer’s disease and some haven’t yet. We don’t know how long they will remain symptom-free – maybe a few years or maybe decades. What we do know is that it’s possible at least to delay the onset of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and give people more years of healthy life.
‘This could be the first clinical evidence of what will become preventions for people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. One day soon, we may be delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease for millions.’
