A new family of Alzheimer’s drugs said to be ‘revolutionary’ by some doctors could give patients roughly an extra year of independent life, a study suggests.
Experts analysed previous data from clinical trials and found those in mild stages of the disease who use the medicines lecanemab and donanemab could remain living independently for an extra 10 months.
Previous estimates suggested the drugs could slow the progression of the disease by only between four and seven months.
The authors of the new study said many Alzheimer’s patients struggle to understand what ‘slowed progression’ means for their quality of life, inspiring them to produce a new, meaningful estimate.
The US experts found patients given lecanemab — which is available to Brits privately — would be able to live independently, outside of a care home, for an additional 10 months.
Patients on donanemab, which is also being sold by private clinics for around £60,000 a year, saw a slightly lower benefit but were still without 24/7 care for an additional eight months.
Given as fortnightly infusions, the drugs, known as amyloid immunotherapies, work with the immune system to clear the build-up of a harmful protein called amyloid in the brains of people with early-stage Alzheimer’s.
While not a cure, this helps slow the progression of the disease.
Lecanemab, sold under the brand name Leqembi, is a monoclonal antibody medication used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s diseas
Donanemab has been proven to slow progression of the disease by as much as 35 per cent in trials by helping to remove the build up of the harmful protein amyloid in the brains of people with early-stage Alzheimer’s
However, there is some debate among experts as to whether this is worth the cost and the risk of dangerous side effects, which include catastrophic brain bleeds.
The new estimate is lower than that put forward by some experts, which suggested lecanemab could prevent people needing nursing home care for five to seven years.
Published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, the latest study also calculated what taking the drugs would mean for patients with mild symptoms, as opposed to very mild.
These patients wouldn’t be able to live independently, but could perform basic self-care like washing and feeding themselves for 26 months if using lecanemab.
Those on donanemab would get an additional 19-months of capability.
The new analysis was conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who said they hope it will help patients decide if the benefits of the drugs are worth the cost, as well as the risks.
Professor Sarah Hartz, an expert in psychiatry at Washington and senior author of the study, said: ‘What people want to know is how long they will be able to live independently, not something abstract like the percent change in decline.’
Dr Suzanne Schindler, an expert in neurology and co-author of the research added: ‘My patients want to know, “How long can I drive? How long will I be able to take care of my own personal hygiene? How much time would this treatment give me?”.
‘The question of whether or not these drugs would be helpful for any particular person is complicated and has to do with not only medical factors, but the patient’s priorities, preferences and risk tolerance.’
Experts have long believed donanemab could herald a new era of dementia treatment, after studies showed it slowed the memory-robbing illness in its early stages
Researchers based their findings of an analysis of 282 Alzheimer’s patients, which included how quickly they developed certain symptoms and the subsequent care they needed.
They then took this data and calculated the potential benefit patients would have received had they been given lecanemab and donanemab based on clinical trial results.
Neither drug is available on the NHS, with health officials ruling the pricey medications not beneficial enough to justify the cost.
However, some private clinics are selling them to patients.
But price isn’t the only factor — some experts are concerned about the risk of brain swelling and bleeding, a known side effect of taking the medications.
About two in five patients are thought to develop this complication from taking amyloid immunotherapies.
While the majority of cases aren’t serious, in 1 per cent the side effect can lead to life-changing strokes and even death.
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia in the UK.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. The disease can cause anxiety, confusion and short-term memory loss
A recent analysis by the Alzheimer’s Society estimated the overall annual cost of the dementia to the UK is £42billion a year, with families bearing the brunt.
An ageing population means these costs – which include lost earnings of unpaid carers – are set to soar to £90billion in the next 15 years.
Around 944,000 in the UK are thought to be living with dementia, while the figure is thought to be around 7million in the US.
Alzheimer’s is thought to because by a toxic build-up of proteins in the brain, which clump together and from plaques and tangles that make it harder for the organ to work properly.
Eventually, the brain struggles to cope with this damage and dementia symptoms develop.
Memory problems, thinking and reasoning difficulties and language problems are common early symptoms of the condition, which then worsen over time.
Alzheimer’s Research UK analysis found 74,261 people died from dementia in 2022 compared with 69,178 a year earlier, making it the country’s biggest killer.
