The First Treatment for Alzheimer ’s Disease Is Here

Alzheimer’s disease was first described by Alois Alzheimer in 1906, and now, more than 100 years later, doctors have an effective drug to treat the cognitive disorder. On June 7, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved aducanumab, developed by the U.S.-based biotech Biogen and Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai. But the drug’s approval comes with a caveat. The FDA is requiring Biogen to conduct an additional placebo controlled study of the drug to verify it’s effectiveness in improving people’s memory and cognitive symptoms. That request stems in large part from the conclusion of an expert panel convened by the FDA last November, which almost unanimously decided that the evidence presented by the drug’s developers did not justify approval. The committee’s recommendation then went to the FDA, and the agency extended the deadline for making a decision from last March to June 7. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The drug’s rocky road of failed and halted clinical trials has generated divided opinions among brain experts about how useful the drug actually is, with some, including the Alzheimer’s Association, supporting approval as the first treatment for the disease—the currently approved therapies for Alzheimer’s only address the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and not its root causes—and others not convinced the data prove that the benefits of the drug outweigh its potential risks. Aducan...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news