Treating Alzheimer’s patients as early as possible — when symptoms and brain pathology are mildest — provides a better chance of slowing cognitive decline, a large study of an experimental Alzheimer’s drug presented Monday suggests.
The study of 1,736 patients reported that the drug, donanemab, made by Eli Lilly, can modestly slow the progression of memory and thinking problems in early stages of Alzheimer’s, and that the slowing was greatest for early-stage patients when they had less of a protein that creates tangles in the brain.
For people at that earlier stage, donanemab appeared to slow decline in memory and thinking by about four and a half to seven and a half months over an 18-month period compared with those taking a placebo, according to the study, published in the journal JAMA.
Among people with less of the protein, called tau, slowing was most pronounced in those younger than 75 and those who did not yet have Alzheimer’s but had a pre-Alzheimer’s condition called mild cognitive impairment, according to data presented Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Amsterdam.
“The earlier you can get in there, the more you can impact it before they’ve already declined and they’re on this fast slope,” Dr. Daniel Skovronsky, Eli Lilly’s chief medical and scientific officer, said in an interview.
Persons:
Eli Lilly, donanemab, “, they’ve, Dr, Daniel Skovronsky, Eli Lilly’s
Organizations:
Alzheimer’s Association International
Locations:
Amsterdam