The First Treatment for Alzheimer’s: Aducanumab
[해외특파원 1기 | 이시현 기자] On September 2, The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that more than 55 million people in the world are suffering from dementia. The number of patients is expected to increase to 78 million by 2030 and 139 million by 2050. Alzheimer’s is expressed as an eraser in my head because it disappears prior memories. Alzheimer’s is the most common degenerative brain disease that causes dementia. Although Alzheimer’s is considered to be a combination of causes, the most important pathophysiology is the “amyloid hypothesis” in which abnormal proteins called beta-amyloid gradually accumulate in the brain, cut off connections between brain cells, and destroy brain cells. It is commonly known that Alzheimer’s is an incurable disease that can only be treated with limited treatment.
However, with the rapid development of scientific technology, a positive outlook for Alzheimer’s treatment has begun. Aducanumab, an Alzheimer’s drug, was approved by the FDA as the world’s first dementia drug in June this year. Aducanumab is jointly developed by Biogen, a U.S. multinational bioscience company, and Azai, a Japanese pharmaceutical company. Existing drugs only treat symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia, and memory loss, while Aducanumab is attracting attention in clinical trials because it can slow cognitive decline. The principle is to prevent brain cells from being destroyed by removing beta-amyloid, a protein precipitate that causes Alzheimer’s.
Although Aducanumab has won the world’s first dementia treatment, it is not free from a controversy over its efficacy. Aducanumab recommends an injection every four weeks. Each dose costs $4321 and costs $56,000 for a year. In other words, the burden of continuing to take drugs for patients with mild diseases like AIDS is inevitable. In addition, PET imaging and cerebrospinal fluid puncture tests are required to prove that the patient has amyloid deposits, which are also expensive. Furthermore, regular brain MRI examinations are required to monitor the risk of side effects such as cerebral edema and spot hemorrhage. Experts predict that the effect of Aducanumab is not clear yet and the financial burden for patients is a lot, so there will be some difficulties for patients to receive treatment.
