What Alzheimer’s Drugs Could Change Everything?

What Alzheimer’s Drugs Could Change Everything?
What Alzheimer’s Drugs Could Change Everything. Credit | Getty images

United States: This week, health watchdog have already decided not to approve a new drug for  this Alzheimer’s disease, which is  marking the second time this year they have done so. The drugs, donanemab and lecanemab, were basically here approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

However, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) have already hereby said the benefits of these drugs were too small which is compared to their high costs. There were also some sort of worries about possible side effects, like kind of swelling and bleeding in the brain.

While some, including Prof Rob Howard of University College London, it only underlines the need to concentrate on simple goals: making sure that those developing Alzheimer’s get a diagnosis, therapy, social care, and existing drugs that can ameliorate some of the symptoms of the disease.

However, where others are also in accord with such support as being vital, they believe that disease-modifying drugs could do so. Alzheimer’s Research UK said there are currently around 130 drug in development, with 75% which could attempt to halt, slow or reverse the condition.

Currently, researchers can point to a number of therapies that are in development said Prof Tara Spires-Jones from the University of Edinburgh who specialises in neurodegeneration.

Amyloid-beta targeting drugs

As reported by the Guardian.com, this Amyloid beta is a kind of sticky protein that particularly accumulates in the patient’s brain and interferes with signals which  causes inflammation and kills cells. Two monoclonal antibodies known as lecanemab and donanemab are designed to stop these clumps from accumulating.

Others have argued that the ruling by Nice is not the last step of these drugs. Prof Andrew Doig, of the University of Manchester, said: “Regarding Donanemab, it has not been completely culled out and this decision can also change for the future. We will however go on monitoring how well it works in different time spans. Costs may also come down.”

Other therapies are also on the way and some would work even better than donanemab said the authors led by Marc R. Doig.

The Alzheimer’s Society’s associate director of research and innovation, Dr Rich Oakley, said that the ADC suite of drugs include one with the brand name remternetug. “It binds to the same kind of amyloid as donanemab but should work better, be easier to use, and have fewer side effects than the other immunotherapy drugs,” he said.

One other drug causing interest is called buntanetap – a small molecule working to bring down the creation of the precursor to the dangerous amyloid.

There is also valitramiprosate an oral drug that is being looked at for the people with a gene and that also raises the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

Prof Charles Marshall of the Queen Mary University of London said another approach is to change the stage at which amyloid-lowering treatments are given, or the way they are administered, to make them more effective.