Cochrane Review Finds Anti-Amyloid Antibodies Have Little Effect on Alzheimer's
A Cochrane review of 17 studies involving 20,342 participants found that monoclonal antibodies targeting amyloid plaques have little to no effect on cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease patients. The drugs, including aducanumab, bapineuzumab, crenezumab, donanemab, gantenerumab, lecanemab, and solanezumab, were all funded by the pharmaceutical industry. The review concluded that successful amyloid removal does not translate to clinically meaningful benefits, and future research should explore other mechanisms. Neurologist Steven Novella criticized the review for including drugs previously shown ineffective, arguing it muddies the waters. The article also discusses books on Aristotle's ethics, Silicon Valley's radicalization, and capitalism's critics.
Key facts
- Cochrane review included 17 studies with 20,342 participants.
- Mean age of participants ranged from 70 to 74 years.
- Seven different amyloid-beta-targeting monoclonal antibodies were assessed.
- All studies were funded by the pharmaceutical industry.
- Anti-amyloid antibodies result in little to no difference in cognitive function.
- Functional ability improvements were small at best.
- Risk of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities increased.
- Steven Novella argued the review included drugs known not to work.
Entities
Institutions
- Cochrane
- Science-Based Medicine
- Hackett Publishing Company
- East India Company
Locations
- Easter Island
- Rapa Nui
- Florida
- Sarasota
- New College
- Hawai'i
- New Zealand
- Hamptons
- Ireland
- London
- Fife