Research published on new Alzheimer’s drug

Research into ‘real-world’ data from America where a new Alzheimer’s drug hailed as a major breakthrough has been in use for more than a year, shows that the drug may actually increase patients’ chances of dying. The treatment, Lecanemab (marketed as Leqembi) was found to triple the risk of death within a year compared to dementia patients who were not prescribed the drug. The risk was significantly higher than reported in the clinical trials and equates to an extra 21 excess deaths per 10,0000 patients. It has been rejected for use by the NHS in the UK because of its prohibitive cost (around £50,000 per person per year), tiny benefit and excessive side effects of brain swelling and bleeding, which including some deaths. And the benefit is questionable, according to a leading expert with no links to the pharmaceutical industry. The paper was published online at University College London, though the website page now redirects to the full report in The Daily Mail.

Professor Robert Howard, a leading Alzheimer’s expert and one of the authors of the paper said, ‘The idea that Lecanumab is a miracle drug is not supported by the evidence from the trials. It’s even dubious to say that they slow down progression, as that is just an interpretation. Off the back of the NICE decision, these are important findings. ‘He added, ‘We should thank NICE for their leadership in this area, evaluating the true costs – tiny benefits and huge risks with these drugs.’

The UCL research is not currently published in a magazine or peer-reviewed and Professor Howard notes that ‘the data is currently preliminary and there is uncertainty over the true numbers.’ But research by a team at Cambridge University confirmed that the effect sizes were so small that a doctor would struggle to tell the difference between the average decline of a patient on the drug and another on placebo, after 18 months. It will be interesting to see if this research finds a publisher. An article by an experienced science journalist in 2019 showed how articles that do not support the pharmaceutical industry favoured ‘amyloid B’ hypothesis were repressed.

Meanwhile, a report on a non-invasive treatment, targeting the brain with magnetic pulses, got a boost when, last month, scientists reported that patients with mild or moderate Alzheimers who received the therapy, known as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), experienced a 44% slowing in their rate of disease progression after a year compared to those given a sham intervention, which mimicked the procedure but delivered no treatment. That finding, which was the study’s main endpoint and was statistically significant, was based on a commonly used disease metric known as Clinical Dementia Rating sum of boxes (CDR-SB). Researchers also found that 37% of patients given TMS showed no disease progression during the trial period compared to 17% in the sham group.

It’s simple, but this clinical research came from teams across four eminent universities. Using a diffuser for two hours a night, with a different scent each night improved participants’ memories by 226 percent and improved brain functioning. This diffuser at Amazon costs £17 and has a timer to set for just two hours. Use good quality oils with scents that are meaningful.

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