"The beginning of the end for Alzheimer's disease"
Second breakthrough drug in the past 12 months
Longevity Hound
May 05, 2023
Lilly’s CEO David Ricks, who is likely to be quite pleased at the latest news and the resulting jump in his company’s stock price
What's the news: Donanemab, a new drug for Alzherimer's, significantly slows the progression of the disease.
Why should we believe it? This news is based on yesterday’s press release from Lilly, the pharma company behind donanemab. Lily's Phase 3 drug trial, involving 552 Alzheimer’s patients, just completed. Results:
Nearly half (47%) of the participants on donanemab (compared to 29% on placebo) had no clinical progression of the disease after 1 year
Participants on donanemab had 40% less decline in ability to perform activities of daily living after 18 months
Yes, but: While the results above are significant, so are the side-effects of donanemab. Brain swelling and brain bleeding occurred in a third of the subjects. In most people, the side-effects resolved themselves, but two people died from brain bleeding.
The big picture: Side-effects notwithstanding, this is still a major breakthrough. Last year, we saw the first-ever effective treatment to slow the progression of Alzheimer's, Eisai and Biogen's lecanemab. Less than 12 months later, we now have a second such drug.
Clearly, many things still to be worked out about both these treatments to make them safe and effective for broad use. But as Dr. Richard Oakley of the Alzheimer’s Society in the UK put it: "This could be the beginning of the end of Alzheimer’s disease."