Few people in the UK with early stage Alzheimer's disease are likely to be suitable for the latest drugs which aim to halt progress of the condition, yet many are nevertheless likely to be referred for these treatments, finds research published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry . The disease-modifying drugs, lecanemab and donanemab, slow cognitive decline in people with early stage Alzheimer's disease. And they have been granted 'breakthrough therapy' status in the UK because of their ability to remove beta amyloid protein in the brain, build-up of which is thought to have a key role in the development of the disease.
Already licensed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease in the US in 2023, regulatory approval of these drugs for use in the UK is expected shortly. But to maximise their effectiveness, a raft of clinical staff and diagnostic and monitoring tests and scans will be required, point out the researchers. To gauge the potential level of healthcare demand, the researchers retrospectively evaluated patients attending 5 community memory services across North and East London and a national specialist cognitive disorders service between January and June in 2022.
They wanted to find out the proportion of patients who would likely be referred for triaging from the memory services for these new drugs as well as those from the specialist service who would potentially be suitable for treatment with them. In all, the anonymised case files of 1017 pa.
