Data assessed from 17 clinical trials of anti-amyloid drugs found no ‘meaningful effect’ on cognitive decline
Drugs that have been hailed as a gamechanger for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease make no noticeable difference to patients, according to an extensive review.
The analysis of clinical trials in people with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia found that the effects of anti-amyloid drugs on cognition and dementia severity over 18 months were “trivial”, with improvements in functional ability “small at best”.
The verdict is a blow to the new wave of drugs that are designed to slow Alzheimer’s by clearing clumps of amyloid protein that build up in the brain. Amyloid plaques are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, along with another protein called tau which forms toxic tangles in neurons.
The Cochrane review drew on gold standard methods to assess data from published clinical trials, but was criticised by some researchers and charities for combining results from older, failed drugs with those from newer, more effective medicines.
