alzheimers news-keep an eye on this new alzheimers med

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-KEEP AN EYE ON THIS NEW ALZHEIMERS MED

my drug is made by biogen and its called aducanumab
it has gone through phase one studies and then phase 3 studies
it will either be approved for use in the us or not approved in the us in two months
if approved it will eventually be available for those with early alzheimers disease or mci mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers disease

if not approved it will probably have to do a phase 4 study to show how well the higher dose really works

the extension of the phase 3 study is the one that i am hopefully about to start up and get aducanumab infusions for two years
its sort of biogens way of doing a phase 4 study

either way i will get at least two more years of the higher dose aducanumab

aducanumab is a monoclonal antibody derived from older folks who dont get alzheimers disease
this antibody is mass produced in the lab then given as an infusion on a monthly basis

it removes the amyloid plaques in the brain 
in the phase one and phase 3 studies it removed all the measurable amyloid plaques in the brain
there was noticed at higher doses that the memory decline in the year it was given decreased significantly 
but
is that decrease enough to make a difference

a cure no 
a treatment to slow down the disease yes maybe

now enter another monoclonal antibody against amyloid plaques
i think of it as the next generation of antibody treatments against amyloid
aducanumab would be the first generation 

the drug is called biogens ban2401 in research but its official name is lecanemab
here is clinical trials.gov link to this phase 3 study on lecanemab

here is a good review article of how lecanemab works and the studies that have been done

basically the lecanemab binds to amyloid protofibrils which leads to the removal of amyloid plaques in the brain

in the early studies lecanemab removed after 18 months of treatment over 93% of these plaques seen on amyloid pet scans
even after a period of no treatment when the study was paused these plaques didnt seem to reaccumulate

in my study the treatments have been paused now for almost 2 years
i received 18 months of placebo and 7 months of the real drug
it will be interesting to see any of the plaques reaccumulated when they do my amyloid pet scan next month
of course i wont get to know what the results are

in the lecanemab study after higher doses were given there was a 30-47% reduction in cognitive decline
thats much better than in my study aducanumab
and
better than lillys new drug dramecanb which is now about to start phase 3 studies

also when the lecanemab was discontinued for those two years memory decline increased once the lecanemab was stopped

my guess is the lecanemab might work better than donanemab and aducanumab
but
aducanumab will be on the market sooner if its approved

if you have a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers disease or early alzheimers keep an eye on 

the approval of aducanumab this summer
if its approved you may qualify for treatment when its on the market
if i wasnt in the aducanumab study already i would try to start the aducanumab treatments once they are approved
remember there will be no other option for treatment to slow it down for a few years

if you think you might have preclinical alzheimers or prodromal alzheimers
ie no symptoms but with positive biomarkers like on amyloid pet scans or spinal fluid markers or blood markers
eg that would have been me when i was 50 years old

there are new treatment studies starting using these drugs
again access clinical trials.gov and type in alzheimers disease and preclinical alzheimers 

for clinical research studies that you may qualify for
just type in lecanemab or donanemab in the clinical trials.gov website to find studies available near you

in summary 
my drug aducanumab may be available after 2 months or it can be delayed until more studies are done

lecanemab and donanemab if approved could be 5 years away from approval
you can access early treatment by volunteering to be in a clincial trial

right now there are no new meds that will be available sooner that i know of
there are  several other promising drugs in phase one studies or in earlier research that are also promising

for me
aducanumab is the only one that could possibly help me
the others will take too long to be available

for many of you 
laecanemab or donanemab may be the drug
or
one of those new ones that are further back in the research world

knowing what i know now and having watched my mom and younger brother go through that long alzheimers journey 
i would definitely had it been available when i was 50 would have started aducanumab when i was in my preclinical alzheimers state

many of you are there now you just dont know it yet

the organicgreen doctor