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The Food and Drug Administration is on the verge of announcing one of its most contentious decisions in years: the fate of an Alzheimer’s drug that could be the first treatment approved after nearly two decades of failed efforts to find ways to curb the debilitating disease.
On Monday, the agency will rule on the drug, aducanumab, which aims to slow progression of memory and thinking problems early in the disease.
If the agency approves it, aducanumab would be the first new Alzheimer’s treatment since 2003. Patients are desperate for new options, but some scientists say there isn’t enough evidence it works.
The FDA is scheduled to announce a decision on aducanumab by Monday in one of its most closely watched rulings in years. The backstory of the drug, intended to delay cognitive decline in the early phase of Alzheimer’s disease, has been marked by soaring hopes and disheartening setbacks.
Alzheimer's drug sparks emotional battle as FDA nears deadline on whether to approve Laurie McGinley, The Washington Post May 31, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail 5 1of5A mental fog descended when Phil Gutis was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. An experimental drug, he says, helped dissipate that fog, but now access to the medication could be imperiled.photo for The Washington Post by Rachel Wisniewski.Show MoreShow Less 2of5Tim Weaver pulls up a photo of his husband, Phil Gutis, being infused with an experimental Alzheimer's drug. Gutis was diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer's in 2016, th...