Dementia: ‘Turning point in the fight against Alzheimer’s’ as drug found to slow disease

Donanemab was found to slow “clinical decline” by up to 35%, meaning that people with disease could still go about performing day-to-day tasks including shopping, housekeeping, managing finances and taking medication.

Alzheimer's Research UK said that “we're entering a new era where Alzheimer's disease could become treatable”.

And the Alzheimer's Society said that treatments like donanemab could one day mean that Alzheimer's could be likened to other long-term conditions such as asthma or diabetes.

The charity said that new treatments including donanemab - which works by removing a protein called amyloid that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's - heralds a "new era" for Alzheimer's disease.

It comes as scientists published the final results of the trial – known as TRAILBLAZER ALZ-2 – examining the safety and efficacy of the drug, manufactured by Eli Lilly and Company.

Researchers examined almost 1,800 people with early-stage Alzheimer's.

Half of them received a monthly infusion of donanemab and the other half were given a dummy drug, also known as a placebo, over 18 months.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and presented to the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Amsterdam, concluded that after 76 weeks of treatment, donanemab was able to slow clinical decline by 35.1% in people with early Alzheimer's whose brain scans showed low or medium levels of a protein called tau.

When the results were combined for people who had different levels of this protein, there was a 22.3% slowing in disease progression.

But researchers did find that among a small number of people in the study there were some serious side effects such as brain swelling.

Meanwhile, three deaths in the donanemab group and one in the placebo group were considered “treatment related”.

The results come after another drug – lecanemab – was found to reduce memory decline among patients with early-stage disease.

Commenting on the results, Dr Richard Oakley, associate director of research and innovation at Alzheimer's Society, said: “This is truly a turning point in the fight against Alzheimer's and science is proving that it is possible to slow down the disease.

“Treatments like donanemab are the first steps towards a future where Alzheimer's disease could be considered a long-term condition alongside diabetes or asthma – people may have to live with it, but they could have treatments that allow them to effectively manage their symptoms and continue to live fulfilled lives.

“Today's full results support what we heard about donanemab back in May, that the drug is able to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's disease by more than 20%.

“This study adds to the growing evidence that treating people as early as possible may be more beneficial, with the effects of donanemab greater in people who were at an earlier stage of the disease.”