A recently published report has raised new concerns about the ineffectiveness of “breakthrough” drugs for Alzheimer’s disease.
According to the findings of researchers reported by BBCThese drugs are unlikely to benefit patients, arguing that although the drugs successfully clear plaques or slow cognitive decline, the clinical benefit to the patient is “well below” the threshold for being noticeable in everyday life.
The core conflict lies between researchers who view these drugs as a “milestone” in slowing Alzheimer’s disease and independent analysts, especially the Cochrane Collaboration, who believe in insufficiently productive results produced by the drugs.
The Cochrane Collaboration came to this conclusion after analyzing studies involving more than 20,000 volunteers.
The review also highlights the other disadvantages of these drugs, which are related to their high costs and financial burden. Taking these medications also leads to possible swelling and bleeding of the brain.
In addition, one cannot exclude the need for infusions every 2-4 weeks, which leads to high financial costs.
The NHS does not currently fund these treatments due to the high cost-benefit ratio. An 18-month course costs around £90,000, making it inaccessible to the general public.
One of the report’s authors, Prof. Edo Richard, professor of neurology at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands, said: “I would tell them that I think you are unlikely to benefit from these drugs and that they are burdensome for you and your family.”
Prof. Robert Howard of University College London (UCL) said it is “unfortunate and unfair to families affected by dementia” that these drugs are being hyped in a way that is “not supported by robust science and will have raised false hopes.”
On the other hand, the findings were also criticized by the scientific community, which called this report “significantly flawed.”
According to Prof. Bart De Strooper, from the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, the recent research does not clarify the doubts about the drugs. In fact, it increases skepticism, underestimating recent progress.
The breakthrough drugs, the first in history proven to slow the disease, use specially designed antibodies to identify and remove beta-amyloid, a protein that builds up between brain cells in Alzheimer’s patients.
