Cases will double in 20 years if science does not prevent it

by time news

2023-06-05 00:29:01

There have been some important developments lately

Cases of Alzheimer with will double in 20 years if science does not prevent it. This is the warning issued by the expert in Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Joan Carlos March. At this point, he acknowledges that in recent times there have been advances in research, “but not everything that is achieved improves the approach to Alzheimer’s. The investigation is urgent: if it is not stopped, the cases will double in 20 years », he reiterates.

Apart from the problems that this disease causes to the people who suffer from it, March emphasizes that “the Economic cost annual of each patient It is around 32,500 euros on average ». In addition, he emphasizes that “it also has a huge family cost: in the context of a disease that can last up to 20 years, 30% of caregivers are forced to make adjustments in their lives to reconcile and 12% are even forced to leave their job”. Fortunately, some progress is taking place.

The seven most outstanding scientific advances

1. A Public Health specialist explains that the second case of a person has recently been discovered resistant to Alzheimer’s. “A rare genetic mutation protected a Colombian man condemned to suffer from hereditary dementia for two decades. The finding suggests a path to seek a treatment against the disease.

2. And new experimental drug joins the new generation of advanced therapies that may curb Alzheimer’s. March reports that “the pharmaceutical company Lilly has announced positive results for donanemab, a monoclonal antibody directed against the amyloid protein, a precursor of the disease. According to the company, in its latest clinical trial that has not yet been published, the drug delays cognitive decline in patients with early-stage symptomatic disease by 35%. In the absence of knowing the complete study and the results being published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, the experts consulted celebrate the encouraging results, but urge caution. Therefore, it is necessary to go little by little with this study”.

3. “A study led by Spanish doctors shows how to open a slit in the brain wall and deliver drugs that could, in theory, treat the parkinson and other neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s disease may be a line for the future. The work has shown that the blood-brain barrier can be opened for a few precious hours in order to deliver the desired drugs to the brain. To achieve this, the researchers have used a very new technology: low-intensity ultrasound”, explains March.

4. Grifols strengthens the marketing of one of its innovations, the diagnostic test of Alzheimer’s.

5. And large international clinical trial with the experimental drug lecanemab. «The results, still preliminary, suggest that it reduces the cognitive deterioration of people with early Alzheimer’s by 27%. It has only some effect—albeit slight—against the progression of the disease. But the lack of data and the approval process for the drug, which in the best of cases will take about two years if it is finally effective, mean that we have to wait, “says the aforementioned expert.

6. A recent research published in the journal ‘Nature Medicine’ indicates that amyloid is not the main culprit in Alzheimer’s, as it is not a clear indicator of the possibility of developing the disease individually.

7. And blood test could determine if a person will develop Alzheimer’s. The key lies in star-shaped brain cells, called astrocytes, which mark the probability that a person will or will not suffer from the aforementioned pathology.

Despite all this, the specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine regrets that “the new therapies for Alzheimer’s they stagnate in intermediate clinical phases. Many do not reach the end and the current situation is that there are more trials in phase II than in the final phase.

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