The monoclonal antibody aducanumab may be an effective solution to reduce the accumulation of amyloid plaques (hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease) in patients at an early stage of the disease, according to the results of a study. study published in the medical journal Nature. This discovery brings hope for a treatment for the 30 million patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers at the University of Zurich in Switzerland carried out a study with 125 patients with an early form of Alzheimer’s or “pre-dementia” – that is to say, who have not yet developed symptoms. They were treated either with a placebo or with the aducanumab monoclonal antibody. During the first stage of the study, 2,000 patients had been treated with this antibody, without satisfactory results. But the effects on patients at an early stage of the disease had already shown a reduction in cognitive decline by 34%.
At an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease, the aducanumab monoclonal antibody shows its effectiveness
The results of the phase 2 study showed that after one year, patients treated with the highest doses of the drug “significantly” reduced their amyloid plaques in their brains and stabilized their brain. cognitive decline. “Our results support the hypothesis that treatment with aducanumab reduces amyloid plaques, and more importantly, that this reduction has beneficial clinical effects. The results of this clinical trial make us optimistic about our ability to treat Alzheimer’s disease. The effect of this antibody is very impressive ”, rejoices Prof. Roger Nitsch, of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at the University of Zurich (Switzerland).
The patients also showed improvement in their clinical condition. “While the patients in the placebo group exhibited cognitive decline, the intellectual functions of the volunteers receiving the antibody were maintained,” adds the author.
The researchers announced that the study of this new antibody will continue and that they are considering a larger trial (called phase 3).
In reaction to this publication, psychiatrist Eric Reiman, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, United States, which is testing other approaches for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease states that “this drug has a real effect in reversing the build-up of amyloid plaques.” But, he recalls that “the study is too small to prove that the drug actually works. Many other drugs to treat Alzheimer’s have shown great promise in early-stage trials, but have ultimately proven ineffective or even dangerous ”.
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