Are Alzheimer’s ‘breakthrough’ drugs overhyped? Report raises fresh concerns

A recently-published report has raised fresh concerns regarding the inefficacy of “breakthrough” Alzheimer’s drugs.

As per researchers' findings reported by BBC, these drugs are unlikely to benefit patients, arguing that while the drugs successfully clear plaques or slow down cognitive decline, the clinical benefit to the patient is "well below" the threshold of being noticeable in daily life.

The core conflict lies between researchers who view these drugs as a “milestone” in slowing Alzheimer’s and independent analysts, especially the Cochrane Collaboration who believe in inadequate productive results exhibited by the drugs.

Cochrane Collaboration has come to this conclusion after analyzing studies involving over 20,000 volunteers.

The review also highlights the other downsides of these drugs, related to high costs, and financial burden. The usage of these drugs also lead to potential brain swelling and bleeding.

Moreover, one can not rule out the requirement for infusions every 2-4 weeks, leading to high financial costs.

The NHS does not currently fund these treatments due to the high cost-to-benefit ratio. An 18-month course costs roughly £90,000, making it inaccessible to the general public.

One of the report's authors, Prof Edo Richard, a professor of neurology at Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, said, “I would tell them, I think you will probably not benefit from these drugs and they're burdensome for you and your family.”

Prof Robert Howard, at University College London (UCL), said it was "unfortunate and unfair to families affected by dementia” that these drugs have been hyped in a way that is ‘not supported by robust science and that will have raised false hopes.”

On the other hand, The findings also drew backlash from the scientific community who called this report “significantly flawed.”

According to Prof Bart De Strooper, from the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, the recent review does not clarify the doubts regarding the drugs, in fact, it deepens scepticism, undervaluing the recent progress.

The breakthrough drugs, the first ones in history proven to slow down the disease, utilize engineered antibodies to identify and clear beta amyloid, a protein that builds up between brain cells in Alzheimer’s patients.