Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and is thought to account for 60 to 80% of all dementia cases. About 10% of people over the age of 70 experience significant memory loss, and at least half of these people have Alzheimer’s disease. It can appear already in the third decade of life, but it occurs much more often in older people.
Its increasing incidence ranks it as the 6th leading cause of death in the US, with 121,499 deaths in 2019 [1]. The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease increases with age. In June 2022, we experienced another big disappointment. A clinical study in which the drug crenezumab was tested on voluntary study participants has been discontinued.
The drug was shown to have no significant effects on preventing or alleviating the symptoms of the disease in members of the Betancourt family from Colombia. Namely, out of almost 5,000 members of the extended family, due to the existence of a rare gene mutation, 1,200 of them will almost certainly develop Alzheimer’s disease in their forties or forties. In the study, 169 of them who have this rare mutation received either the drug or a placebo, while another 83 subjects who do not have the gene mutation received a placebo in order to conceal the identity of people who have the gene mutation, in order to prevent their stigmatization.
So, after 10 years of research, we are back to the beginning and searching again for a cure for this serious disease. For now, thanks to the extremely controversial decision of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), Aduhelm remains the only drug registered for use in Alzheimer’s disease. The FDA approved this drug for use despite acknowledging that there is no clear evidence of its positive effect, referring to the possibility of registering a drug for which there is no clear evidence of effectiveness, if there is a possibility that it would be useful in the treatment of serious diseases.