New drug shows promise in treating mild Alzheimer’s dementia
The drug, known as BAN2401, targets amyloid, a protein that
accumulates in the brain and forms plaques that can compromise nerve cells. It
was shown to be successful in slowing the progression of mild cognitive
impairment in 856 patients with early Alzheimer’s.
“This is the first late-stage, anti-amyloid antibody study
to successfully achieve statistically significant results at 18 months, further
validating the amyloid hypothesis,” Lynn Kramer, chief clinical officer and
chief medical officer with the Neurology Business Group at Eisai, which
developed the drug along with Biogen, said according to the Washington Post.
According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, there are
currently 564,000 Canadians living with dementia (of which Alzheimer’s is the
most common form), and that number is expected to skyrocket to 937,000 in the
next 15 years. The annual cost to Canadians to care for those living with
dementia is estimated at $10.4 billion.
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