Donanemab may have slightly higher adverse events than other drugs and patients need to be gene-tested to prevent them. The therapy also does not cure, meaning the benefits will last for a limited time. A cost-benefit analysis is required for use but at least drug development for a condition that did not have any is welcome, say neurologists alzheimer's drugThe phase III study shows that Donanemab slows down cognitive decline in early Alzheimer’s patients by 35.1 per cent in 76 weeks.
From excitement surrounding the approval of an Alzheimer’s drug at the beginning of the year, doctors and researchers have started looking at the realities of making these therapies available to patients as a similar drug published its phase III trial data. Even as clinicians welcomed new therapies being developed for a condition that has largely remained without any targetted drug, they debated the cost-benefit ratio of the therapies and the challenges to bring it to hospitals here.
“From a more practical standpoint, the modest benefits would likely not be questioned by patients, clinicians, or payers if amyloid antibodies were low risk, inexpensive, and simple to administer. However, they are none of these,” said an editorial published alongside the phase III data recently in the journal JAMA. Just like its predecessor Lecanemab, Eli Lilly’s Donanemab is a monoclonal antibody that targets amyloid beta protein plaques in the brain, one of the defining features of Alzheimer’s disease that can be seen on imaging.
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