PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In July, the FDA approved a new drug called Lecanamab that helps slow the rate of memory loss for people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
“People on Lecanamab had a 27% slower rate of memory loss, so about a 20 to 30% lower rate of decline compared to people on the placebo,” said Dr. Sanjeev Vishnavi, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.
“Even though people do decline, they decline at a slower rate and that’s really impressive because we haven’t had anything that slows the progression like Lecanamab in the past.”
In the United States, about 6.7 million people have Alzheimer’s, which encompasses about one in nine people over 65. It’s the seventh leading cause of death in the country, but curing the disease has proven elusive.
Dementia research is severely underfunded and with Alzheimer’s being one of the most complex diseases of the brain, most theories need funding to be further investigated, according to Alzheimer Society.
Even though there’s still a long way to go in finding the cure for Alzheimer’s, Vishnavi, who’s also the clinical director of the Division of Cognitive Neurology at Penn, is optimistic.
“Our hope as a field is that this medicine will be the first of more significant advances,” he said. “This isn't the end. This is hopefully the beginning of the road to more effective and more potent therapies.”
Vishnavi explains how Lecanamab works, some of the challenges that go with curing Alzheimer’s and what this new drug might mean for the future of Alzheimer’s research on the latest episode of KYW Newsradio In Depth.
Listen to the full conversation in the player below, on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.