Japanese researchers found that lecanemab, an amyloid-clearing drug for Alzheimer’s, does not improve the brain’s waste clearance system in the short term. This implies that nerve damage and impaired clearance occur early and are difficult to reverse. Their findings underscore that tackling amyloid alone may not be enough to restore brain function, urging a broader approach to treatment.
Drugs like Lecanemab don’t help in that they don’t reverse the progression of symptoms, but they do help in that they slow down the progression of symptoms. You’d expect someone who was given the drug for a few months to have more of their cognative ability left than someone who hadn’t had it, but they’d both be much worse than they were at the start.
Yeah, and I’m not sure that a drug that reverses the symptoms is a realistic target anyway. As far as I’m aware, Alzheimer’s ultimately kills neurons. They ain’t coming back without a time machine. A treatment that stops degeneration is as good a goal as we’re gonna get.
Like, if I lose a limb in a car accident, is it really fair to say that the intervention required to let me live on as an amputee didn’t work, since it couldn’t grow my limb back?