The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the pharmaceutical company Biogen’s monoclonal antibody aducanumab (Aduhelm) on June 7 for the treatment of early stage Alzheimer’s disease. It was the first new therapy approved for the neurodegenerative disorder in nearly 20 years. It is a very expensive drug, costing $56,000 a year and works by removing some of the plaque which has built up in the brain, a mechanism felt to contribute to this devastating disease, now the 3rd leading cause of death in the US.
Why has it been that long? Because unfortunately, drugs don’t work against Alzheimer’s Disease.
Despite over 400 drug trials and more than $1.4 billion spent, not a single medication to treat Alzheimer’s Disease has ever been shown to have any specific benefit. And many have actually been detrimental.
In fact, research and development in Alzheimer’s Disease management has been abandoned by many pharmaceutical companies because of how little benefit drugs have shown and the price for development is a losing business.
The approval of Aduhelm has now been called “the worst approval by the FDA in its history”. The studies showed no benefit, but because of the concept of “the right to try” prompted by desperate families, as well as the lack of any obvious harm in studies, it was fast-tracked.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia but even if you carry the genes which make getting it inevitable, you can delay it’s onset, slow its progression, and in the case of other forms of dementia, potentially prevent them from occurring in the first place. Lifestyle is the key. The changes in the brain leading to all forms of dementia start 20-30 years before symptoms start to develop, at which time it is too late. Now is the time to implement healthy lifestyle strategies to prevent this disease, which will likely bankrupt our healthcare system, if some other pandemic doesn’t or climate change doesn’t before. Treatment of Alzheimer’s, which is basically psychosocial support for patients and their families, is the most expensive disease to manage and often bankrupts many families.
A phenomenal book describing the steps you can take to minimize the risks of developing dementia is “The Alzheimer’s Solution” by Dr.s Dean and Ayesha Sherzai, co-directors of the Dementia program at Loma Linda University in California. In a nutshell, some of the strategies proven to prevent cognitive changes and dementia include:
- Eating a plant based diet, reducing fat, especially saturated fat. Yes, that means healthy, whole food plant-based diets are the healthiest. Minimize processed foods and sugars. Minimize animal products.
- Regular exercise, and it doesn’t take much.
- Proper sleep. This is such a crucial component.
- Psychosocial support.
PLEASE don’t use this misstep by the FDA as ammunition to argue against the Covid vaccine. Apples and oranges. The vaccines were developed quickly, but safety was established and has borne out after 6 billion doses and it’s efficacy has been proven as the incidence of severe disease, hospitalization and death is almost exclusively in unvaccinated people.
Stay safe and be well.
AC