Experts split sharply over experimental Alzheimer’s drug

Published 5:08 pm Thursday, December 5, 2019

SAN DIEGO — A company that claims to have the first drug to slow mental decline from Alzheimer’s disease made its case to scientists Thursday but left them sharply divided over whether there’s enough evidence of effectiveness for the medicine to warrant federal approval.

Excitement and skepticism have surrounded aducanumab since its developers stopped two studies earlier this year because it didn’t seem to be working, then did a stunning about-face in October and said new results suggest it was effective at a high dose.

During Thursday’s presentation at an Alzheimer’s conference in San Diego, the developers convinced some experts that the drug deserves serious consideration. But others were dubious.

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Changes made during the study and unusual analyses of the data made the results hard to interpret. And the newly released results showed the drug made only a very small difference in thinking skills in one study and none in the other.