A SECOND drug has been proven to slow Alzheimer’s disease, kicking off “a new era where it could become treatable”.
Trials showed donanemab cleared toxic proteins out of patients’ brains and slowed mental decline by up to 60 per cent over 18 months.
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It was most effective for people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s – the top cause of dementia – and slowed decline by 36 per cent on average.
New drugs could one day turn the clock back on our ageing brains and buy millions of people precious extra years with loved ones.
Professor Giles Hardingham, director of the UK Dementia Research Institute, said: “It is terrific to see these results.
“We have waited a long time for Alzheimer’s treatments, so it’s really encouraging to see tangible progress.
“We’re on the edge of exciting and significant change.”
The drug, developed by US firm Eli Lilly and Company, was tested on 1,736 patients with toxic amyloid proteins building up in their brains.
The proteins clump together for decades and eventually become so bad they cause nerve damage and kill off brain cells.
Donanemab is the second drug proven to prevent and reverse this process.
It follows lecanemab, which results last year showed slowed decline by 27 per cent.
Dr Mark Mintun, a vice president at Eli Lilly, called the results “eye-popping”.
He said: “It takes 20 years to get that much amyloid plaque and we basically clear it out in six to 12 months.
“As you remove all the stuff that’s built up, our hope is that you restore the way that amyloid incites or accelerates disease.
“And it will take years before it builds back up to some level that starts accelerating disease.
“People living with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease are still working, enjoying trips, sharing quality time with family – they want to feel like themselves, for longer.”
The study was published in full in the Journal of the American Medical Association, following a teaser in May.
It found that patients were continuing to improve when the trial cut off, meaning the benefits could be even greater.
‘PALPABLE EXCITEMENT’
Many people only needed to take it for six months because it worked so well, and seven in 10 were off the meds after a year and a half.
Antibodies injected by IV cleared away 84 per cent of the amyloid plaques in their brains, on average, compared to just a one per cent reduction in a placebo group.
Experts hailed “palpable excitement” in the science world and said: “This is a real revolution.”
Around 900,000 Brits have dementia, with Alzheimer’s responsible for two in three cases, and it is the UK’s top killer.
Cases are on the rise with still no hope of a cure as current medications can only reduce symptoms.
UK drugs watchdog the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will now decide whether the two drugs are safe and effective enough to use on the NHS.
They can cause severe side effects, even including death, don’t work for all patients and are likely to be very expensive.
Experts also warn the NHS does not yet have enough capacity or brain scanners to roll them out to everyone who could benefit.
Dr Susan Kohlhaas, of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “We’re entering a new era where Alzheimer’s disease could become treatable.”
Dr Richard Oakley, from the Alzheimer’s Society, added: “This is truly a turning point.
“Treatments like donanemab are the first steps towards a future where Alzheimer’s disease could be considered a long-term condition alongside diabetes or asthma.”