This is a time lapse of two brains over six years.
This one is normal and this one has Alzheimer's a disease that kills more than
120,000 people in the US annually and that researchers have spent more than
three decades trying to cure.
And it's at the center of controversy around a new drug called a jade helm.
There are a few drugs that are on the market now.
They work okay to alleviate some of the symptoms of Alzheimer's but but nothing that really sort of slows
down the course of this disease,
Biogen's Wilhelm aims to change that.
It might be the first drug to slow the progression from here to here and
could delay the loss of memory and other functions.
But flawed trials from the drugmaker have led many medical experts to question the science
and some insurance companies to limit coverage.
Here's how a gentleman functions in the brain and why some doctors won't
prescribe it yet.
A gentleman is meant to treat the root cause of Alzheimer's which is a series of chemical changes in the
brain.
The disease attacks tiny cells called neurons which control movement,
senses memory and thinking.
When someone has Alzheimer's communication between neurons is interrupted and the
cells die.
Researchers aren't sure exactly why this happens but they found two biomarkers in the brain
that might be factors called amyloid plaques and tau tangles.
Everybody needs to have the amyloid precursor protein and the tau
protein.
We need them for normal brain function.
Dr paul.
Allison has been a paid consultant for Biogen and has worked on a range of treatments for Alzheimer's,
including a jade helm in Alzheimer's disease.
These proteins are changed,
they are modified in a way that causes them to aggregate or
clump together plaques are made up of clumps of beta amyloid,
which is a sticky protein that accumulates throughout the brain.
Scientists think that these clusters may block communication between cells.
Tag tangles build up inside of neurons and blocked pathways in the cell for nutrients and
other essentials,
plaques and tangles as they accumulate in the brain,
kill off brain cells and once brain cells are dead,
they're not coming back to life.
The goal of a gymkhana mob.
The generic name for a jade helm is to target the amyloid plaques and hopefully slow
down the death of neurons.
It does this using antibodies,
proteins in the blood that are programmed to attack viruses,
bacteria and other foreign substances.
A Gymkhana mob is a monoclonal antibody,
which means it was designed in a lab to mimic real ones made by the immune system
in particular was modeled on an antibody that
occurred in people who seem to be resistant to Alzheimer's disease.
When injected the antibodies travel to the brain through the bloodstream and latch onto plaques.
They then attract natural scavenging cells called microglia that bind to the
antibody proteins and chew up the clumps.
The micro glia seemed to digest the material of the
plaques and then bring them into the bloodstream and the amyloid is cleared through the
blood vessels.
In theory,
once the plaques are removed,
accumulation will slow down or stop and brain cells won't die as quickly.
This could delay loss of memory and function for people who are at an early stage of the disease and
could potentially add years to their lives If your homework's,
it could be a crucial step towards preventing Alzheimer's.
But some doctors and researchers aren't convinced it's effective since
2019.
Really,
the drug has been super controversial.
What happened was Biogen was running these two big phase three trials and then shut them down
prematurely because they thought that they weren't going to work.
Joseph walker covers biotechnology and drug companies and has led reporting on a home's
progress.
They combined all the data to do a pooled analysis and then when they looked at them separately,
they saw that the results were different.
They also saw that the additional data sort of changed the picture a bit.
Both trials showed the drug was effective at reducing the amount of plaque in the brain.
But only one trial showed an effect on patients decline Sraping symptoms from getting worse by
about 22%.
Based on these results,
the FDA granted accelerated approval,
meaning the drug was not fully proven to work but showed promising enough results that it can be
prescribed to patients.
While another study is done,
the agency said they approved the drug because the need for treatments is urgent,
but some doctors aren't sure there is enough evidence of the drug's benefits or safety,
you just generally don't want to give people things that don't work you think are unlikely
to.
And even more so when the drug has side effects,
when it's removing amyloid from the brain that can cause swelling and even these small brain
bleeds,
there's another reason the data has been brought into question the,
the idea that simply removing amyloid from the brain will slow Alzheimer's
disease is still very much contested.
And so to approve a drug on that basis for some people is a little premature.
Another issue is how much it costs.
Biogen said the initial price for treatments over the course of a year would be about
$56,000 for the average person.
The sticker shock caused some insurers to limit coverage and the price of a home was cut in
half in December 2021.
The fact that so many of the health insurers and doctors have sort of
balked at paying for the drug or prescribing it.
I think,
you know,
has thrown sort of some uncertainty into the picture here.
Other companies also currently have amyloid targeting treatments in testing phases
And some researchers hope that their homes approval is just the first step in finding a treatment
to prevent Alzheimer's,
it's actually been the most encouraging results we've seen over the
30 years that we've been working on slowing this disease.
So I would say that on balance even with the controversy,
the work on a condom ab has stimulated and excited.
The field.
A home is currently approved for early stage patients by a general do another
trial to confirm it works,
but it will likely take years to get final results.