Systematic review finds more clinical harm than benefits in Alzheimer’s “treatments” lecanemab, aducanumab, and donanemab

Study ques­tions ben­e­fit of new Alzheimer’s drug (UGA Today): Last sum­mer, the U.S. Food and Drug Admin­is­tra­tion ful­ly approved the first drug shown to slow the progress of Alzheimer’s. But new research from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia sug­gests that patients and care­givers may not expe­ri­ence any ben­e­fit from the drug in their dai­ly lives. The drug, Leqembi,…

Read More

On neuroplasticity, cognition, aging, medication, Alzheimer’s, board games, brain teasers, and more

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing fas­ci­nat­ing research find­ings on neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, cog­ni­tion, aging, med­ica­tion, Alzheimer’s, board games, and more, plus some brain teasers to get you in great shape for Hal­loween. #1. Study: Play­ing board games like Chess, Mahjong, Go, helps slow cog­ni­tive decline as we age (but with clear dif­fer­ences in…

Read More

Four reasons to question “new generation” monoclonal antibody Alzheimer’s drugs such as aducanumab (Aduhelm), lecanemab (Leqembi), donanemab

New Alzheimer’s Drugs Don’t Deserve the Hype (Being Patient): A promi­nent child­hood mem­o­ry is of my grand­par­ents liv­ing with and then dying from demen­tia. As is uni­ver­sal with demen­tia, there was a dou­ble blow: watch­ing my grand­par­ents lose their iden­ti­ty and see­ing the suf­fer­ing of those clos­est to them.

Read More

Time for a universal “exercise prescription” for kids and adults to boost cognition and mental health?

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing this time a range of brain research find­ings, tools and con­tro­ver­sies plus some brain teasers to chal­lenge your (and our) work­ing mem­o­ry. #1. Major evi­dence review sup­ports an “exer­cise pre­scrip­tion” for most adults to boost men­tal health “High­er inten­si­ty phys­i­cal activ­i­ty was asso­ci­at­ed with greater improvements”…

Read More

Hopes and Questions raised by Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi (lecanemab)

The FDA has approved Leqem­bi, the first dis­­ease-mod­­i­­fy­ing treat­ment for ear­­ly-stage Alzheimer’s and a pre­cur­sor con­di­tion, mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment. Medicare has said it will pay for the ther­a­py. Med­ical cen­ters across the coun­try are scram­bling to final­ize poli­cies and pro­ce­dures for pro­vid­ing the med­ica­tion to patients, pos­si­bly by summer’s end or ear­ly autumn. It’s a…

Read More

Price tag for a questionable Alzheimer’s treatment: $109,000 per patient, per year. Unclear yet: For how many years?

The real costs of the new Alzheimer’s drug, Leqem­bi — and why tax­pay­ers will foot much of the bill (CBS News): The first drug pur­port­ing to slow the advance of Alzheimer’s dis­ease is like­ly to cost the U.S. health care sys­tem bil­lions annu­al­ly even as it remains out of reach for many of the low­er-income seniors…

Read More