MIAMI – A new Alzheimer’s drug will soon hit the market after gaining FDA approval Tuesday.
Donanemab is meant to slow the rate of a brain’s decline in the early stages of the disease.
According to a press release from drugmaker Eli Lilly and Company, which will market donanemab as Kisunla, the medication “slowed cognitive and functional decline by up to 35% compared to placebo at 18 months in its pivotal Phase 3 study and reduced participants’ risk of progressing to the next clinical stage of disease by up to 39%.”
Dr. James Galvin is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.
While this approval is welcome news for patients and clinicians, he stresses it is not a cure for the disease.
“It provides some symptomatic benefits. Some people progress slower, but because it’s removing the amyloid protein, which we believe is the initial trigger for Alzheimer’s disease, Donanemab will help modify the disease. So people who get treated can eventually clear the amyloid from their brain,” he explained to CBS News Miami’s Lauren Pastrana. “A large proportion of the patients who were treated in the trial by 12 to 18 months had no evidence of amyloid in their brain.”