Alzheimer's Drugs Show 'Trivial' Benefits, Review Finds
The Facts
- A Cochrane review of 17 clinical trials involving more than 20,000 people has found that anti-amyloid drugs for Alzheimer's disease had effects on cognitive decline and dementia severity that were "absent or trivial" and fell below thresholds for minimum clinically important difference.
- The review, published Thursday, examined seven anti-amyloid drugs, including lecanemab, sold as Leqembi by Biogen and Eisai, and donanemab, sold as Kisunla by Eli Lilly. Both drugs were approved by the U.S. and the European Union but were declined by state-run health services in the U.K. and France.
- The review found that anti-amyloid drugs likely increase the risk of brain swelling and bleeding. Patients receiving the treatments must also visit a clinic every two to four weeks for intravenous infusions and regular MRI scans.
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The Spin
Narrative A
Anti-amyloid Alzheimer's drugs don't deliver the breakthrough patients deserve — their effects on cognitive decline are trivial, and functional improvements are small at best. Lumping failed drugs with newer ones skews the picture, but even lecanemab and donanemab only slow decline by months. That's not a game-changer — that's a consolation prize dressed up as a cure.
Narrative B
Dismissing all anti-amyloid drugs as trivial is junk science — the Cochrane review mixed mostly failed, discontinued drugs with the two actually approved treatments, producing a conclusion that tells us nothing useful. Leqembi and Kisunla earned FDA approval by demonstrably slowing cognitive decline, and lumping them with drugs that never made it to market is like grading a restaurant on food it never served.
Metaculus Prediction
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