Experimental drug slows memory loss in early Alzheimer’s

In a preliminary trial of subjects suffering from memory and thinking problems or diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s, a bioengineered medication called aducanumab has demonstrated the ability to clear accumulations of beta-amyloid proteins — a hallmark of Alzheimer’s — from the brain.

The results of the early clinical trial, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, offer new evidence that clearing amyloid plaques might be an effective strategy for preventing, halting or even reversing Alzheimer’s dementia, especially if the degenerative brain disorder is detected and treated early.

All had been diagnosed either with mild Alzheimer’s or with mild cognitive impairment — a more subtle level of confusion and forgetfulness that frequently precedes an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

In these preliminary findings on aducanumab, treatment not only reduced the accumulation of amyloid plaques; it also appeared to slow the inexorable slide into dementia that most subjects were expected to suffer.

After a year of monthly infusions of aducanumab therapy, the brains of subjects who got the highest dose had significant reductions in their baseline levels of amyloid plaque accumulation.