Alzheimer's drug causing debate in medical world

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug that shows potential delay in decline due to Alzheimer's disease. The approval is causing some debate in the medical world. 

More than 6 million people are living with Alzheimer's disease. There is no cure, but the FDA approved a drug that shows potential at delaying the decline. 

"The name of it is aducanumab," said Dr. Nate Chin, medical director of Wisconsin's Alzheimer's Research Center in Madison. "It’s a monoclonal antibody. What it means is that it is an antibody, so it’s given in the bloodstream. It goes into the brain and it attaches to the protein called ‘amyloid’ which is the protein that we believe that is the first of two proteins that makes up Alzheimer’s disease, and then it removes that protein."

Sounds simple enough, but the FDA approval is just the first step. Dr. Chin said it could be months before the treatment is available for use. 

"First, we need to know if Medicare and CMS, or any insurance, will cover it for that matter. After that, we need to know if hospitals have the ability to administer it," said Chin. 

The drug is administered through an infusion process. An even bigger factor is deciding who is eligible. 

"How they qualify, that is it through a lumbar puncture? Is it through a fancy PET scan? That, to me, is just still unknown," said Dr. Chin.

In the studies, Dr. Chin said patients who received the drug had a 22% reduced decline compared to patients who did not have the treatment. 

"This is all based on questionnaires and valid forms during the study. Now, what does that translate to? I think that’s what’s being debated. How clinically effective is this? How meaningful is this to the individual on the medication?" said Dr. Chin. 

There are still a lot of questions to be answered, but progress.

"No matter what, it’s still a remarkable thing. From the research standpoint, it really shows the hard work, and that more studies are needed and are being done and our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease really needs to be accelerated, too, so we can provide more treatments like this," said Dr. Chin. 

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The Alzheimer's Association is having a 30-minute webinar on June 24 about the newly approved drug. A panel of experts will review the drug, how it's administered and other steps to receiving this treatment.