A potential Alzheimer’s treatment gets a second look.After sixteen long years with no truly viable treatment plans for Alzheimer’s, there’s some optimism on the horizon, in a stunning reversal regarding the formerly-rejected antibody therapy, aducanumab. The most recent research reveals that large quantities of this medication do, in fact, reduce cognitive decline at the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s.
According to Rebecca Edelmayer, director of scientific engagement at the Alzheimer’s Association, “It could be a game-changer for the field. It could be one of the first disease-modifying therapies approved for Alzheimer’s disease.”
Biogen, the manufacturer of aducanumab, reports substantial benefits for dementia patients in a variety of areas: activities of everyday living, memory, language, and orientation. Biogen revealed its plans to pursue regulatory approval within the United States, with a long range aim of introducing the medication internationally.
With an estimated request for approval by the FDA as quickly as early 2020, the medication is slated to potentially become the first treatment option to actually decrease the clinical decline of Alzheimer’s. Likewise, it will open doors to other treatment options that impact amyloid beta plaques, connecting other trials that focus on the immune system, inflammation, blood vessels, and synaptic cell health. As finding the most effective treatments for the disease is a challenging endeavor, it is likely that a variety of these approaches will be necessary, per Edelmayer.
The next challenge? Persuading the FDA to approve the drug after past unsuccessful trials. If approved, aducanumab will first be offered to individuals who had enrolled in earlier trials, and hopefully, soon available to others dealing with the problems of Alzheimer’s as well.
For the approximately 6 million senior Americans fighting Alzheimer’s (and that figure is expected to more than double in the next three decades), together with family members who take care of them, these new findings may be life-changing, as there are currently only minimally successful symptom-management medications available. Even as we look forward to a promising Alzheimer’s treatment, we at Home Sweet Home In-Home Care, the Kalamazoo senior care experts, are able to assist dementia patients through highly skilled, trained, and experienced caregivers who make use of innovative therapeutic approaches that focus on each person’s unique strengths and making certain each individual is living to the fullest.
For additional details on effective Alzheimer’s care that helps boost quality of life in the comfort of home, contact the dementia care professionals at Home Sweet Home In-Home Care at (269) 373-5444 in Kalamazoo and ask for an in-home assessment or additional useful resources. To learn more about the other areas we serve in southwest Michigan, please visit our Service Area page or call (269) 763-5350 in Paw Paw, (269) 849-9252 in St. Joseph, or (269) 963-9888 in Battle Creek.