Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for 60-70% of dementia cases worldwide, may soon be treatable. The newest experimental drug, lecanemab, developed by pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Biogen, was found to slow down cognitive decline by 27% in a 18-months large scale clinical trial.
About 1800 patients aged 50-90 years old with early stage Alzheimer’s Disease participated in the trial. Singapore’s National University Hospital (NUH) is one of the participating sites of the trial, and is the only one in South-east Asia. Caregivers interviewed were grateful that their loved ones were more jovial and social after receiving the lecanemab treatment.
These results have reignited hope in the scientific community. There have been many false hopes and controversies in the two decade long research of finding a treatment for a disease with no known cure. Lecanemab may be the real deal, marking what could be ‘the beginning of the end’ for the disease.
