Should we be preparing to give new dementia treatments to our patients?

Professor Robert Howard. I spend half my week working with older people with mental health disorders and dementia and my research aims to develop and evaluate better treatments for my patients. Through the conduct of independent clinical trials - from earliest proof of efficacy concept through to phase III - we can provide powerful evidence of what works and what doesn’t. Within the Department we have potential PhD supervisors with interests in dementia, depression, psychosis and anxiety disorders in older people. We’ve experts in epidemiology, PET and MR imaging, wet lab science and old fashioned clinical studies. Please come and talk to me if you think you might have an interesting idea but need to find someone to help you to develop it into your own supervised research project. Abstract Almost a generation has passed since the cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine were licensed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and, after what has felt like an endless series of treatment failures, the amyloid antibodies aducanumab and lecanemab have recently shown efficacy in phase 3 trials and received accelerated approval by the US FDA. We are standing on the threshold of a new era of treatments for neurodegenerative disorders and there is understandable excitement about the prospect of intervening to slow progression of disease. Treatment with amyloid antibodies is invasive and not without risks of serious side-effects, including, rarely, death. The administr...
Source: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry - Category: Neurosurgery Authors: Tags: BNPA Medal Lecture Source Type: research