The Next Blockbuster Drug for Alzheimer’s Disease is Prevention
[caption id="attachment_4832" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dr. Nancy A. Palermo[/caption] Earlier this month the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Aduhelm (scientific name aducanumab, pronounced add-you-can-you-mab) through its accelerated drug approval program. This is the first Alzheimer’s drug to pass through the FDA in over 18 years which should be a cause for celebration, but many researchers disagree. The drug, aducanumab, produced by the company Biogen, is an IV-infused antibody developed to reduce amyloid plaques in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients. Amyloid plaques are collections of the abnormal inflammatory amyloid protein known to be the hallmark of the disease. While the data from the clinical trials have still not been released, early indications suggest the drug appears to address just the symptoms and not the disease itself … sound familiar? Additionally,...