WASHINGTON: A new kind of drug to fight Alzheimer’s has shown promise when given to people in the early stages of the disease, drug-maker Eli Lilly said Wednesday.
Known as solanezumab, the drug is a monoclonal antibody that helps the brain clear amyloid-beta before it clumps together to form plaques that are implicated in Alzheimer’s, which affects 44 million people living with dementia worldwide, and has no effective treatment.
In 2012, solanezumab was shown to be no better than a sugar pill in clinical trials.
An editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2014 said that as many as one quarter of patients studied in the early trials may have had dementia but not Alzheimer’s, and that scientific trials should continue in people with confirmed Alzheimer’s.
This time, researchers reported on randomized, double blind trials involving 1,322 people with mild Alzheimer’s disease.
Some were given the drug right away, others after a period of two years. Both doctors and patients were unaware of whether they were using a sugar pill or the actual drug.
When researchers compared the cognitive function of the two groups two years into the study, the difference was “statistically significant,” Eli Lilly said in a statement.
The study is published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Translational Research and Clinical Interventions, and was discussed at the Alzheimer’s Association Annual Conference in the US capital.
Promise seen for drug in patients with early Alzheimer’s
Promise seen for drug in patients with early Alzheimer’s
White House to present plans for Trump’s East Wing ballroom in January
- The new ballroom, which Trump has said would cost $400 million and would dwarf the adjacent White House building
PALM BEACH, Florida: The White House will unveil new details on President Donald Trump’s planned East Wing ballroom during a hearing early next month, according to a federal commission tasked with reviewing the project.
The new ballroom, which Trump has said would cost $400 million and would dwarf the adjacent White House building, has been challenged in court by preservationists, while Democratic lawmakers have called it an abuse of power and are investigating which donors are supporting it.
The National Capital Planning Commission, chartered by Congress to manage planning for Washington-area federal lands, said on its website that the White House will provide an “information presentation” on plans to rebuild the East Wing during a commission meeting on January 8.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The commission, chaired by a White House aide and onetime personal lawyer to Trump, Will Scharf, has declined to review the demolition of the former East Wing, preparation activities at the site, or potential effects to historic properties, in what would mark the biggest change to the historic property in decades.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organization chartered by Congress, is suing to halt the construction, arguing that the proposed 90,000 square foot (8,360 square meter) ballroom would dwarf the rest of the White House, at 55,000 square feet.
The judge in the case earlier this month declined to issue a temporary restraining order against work on the project, noting among other things that the size, scale and other specifications had not been finalized. Another hearing is scheduled for next month. The president, a one-time real estate developer, has taken a hands-on role in what he has described as sprucing up the White House and the US capital city ahead of celebrations next year marking the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary.
He has also proposed a new grand arch near Washington, while decorating the Oval Office extensively in gold leaf and installing plaques there offering his personal take on his predecessors’ legacies.
The former East Wing was largely demolished in October, with comparatively little public notice or consultation.
In a recent notice posted online, the planning commission said a formal review taking place this coming spring will consider topics including lines of sight, public space and landscapes. Members of the public will be allowed to submit comments or testify during the review, it said.
