Eli Lilly has yet to publish the full results, which means the data has not been peer reviewed or independently verified, so experts have only been able to comment on the press release.
writing for the journal Science, Derek Lowe, who works in drug discovery, commented that "we are surely looking at the most optimistic take possible — we'll have to wait for filing with the FDA to see more."
Alzheimer's disease affects at least 55 million people worldwide.
The World Health Organization says Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia — "dementia is the seventh leading cause of death and one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people globally."
Dementia is one of the hardest conditions to treat.
As with similar antibody-based therapies such as lecanemab, donanemab is not a cure for Alzheimer's.
Instead, they are antibodies that target different forms of amyloid-beta (Aβ) proteins that can clump together to form amyloid plaques in people's brains, resulting in their cognitive decline.
Lecanemab's phase 3 results showed that 17% of participants had brain bleeds and 13% had brain swellings, which is less than donanemab. But Biogen and Eisai, the companies behind lecanemab, have also reported three deaths associated with the drug.
The World Health Organization says Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia — "dementia is the seventh leading cause of death and one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people globally."
Dementia is one of the hardest conditions to treat.
Instead, they are antibodies that target different forms of amyloid-beta (Aβ) proteins that can clump together to form amyloid plaques in people's brains, resulting in their cognitive decline.
Both drugs were only tested on people with early stages of Alzheimer's.
Both donanemab and lecanemab have a high-risk of side effects, wrote the journal Nature in a May 4 news article.
The side effects include "amyloid-related imaging abnormalities" — or ARIA — which include swelling or bleeding in the brain.