Six million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias and research shows Blacks are more at risk than whites of developing Alzheimer’s.
But there are now some new drugs for Alzheimer’s that work differently, said Stephanie Monroe of the Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium.
“We have drugs that are aimed at changing some of the symptoms that people might experience with Alzheimer’s disease, but the new drugs that are coming on the market like Lecanemab are actually aimed at trying to prevent Alzheimer’s disease or slow the progress of the disease,” she said.
“Lecanemab, which is one of the new drugs that has been approved, we’re very excited about it, because in 17 years these are the first drugs approved for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Monroe.
The other is Aduhelm, approved in 2021. Monroe said this is critically important news for minorities.
“By 2030 actually 40% of people with Alzheimer’s disease will be minorities and so now is the time for us to do what we know works, raising opportunities for people to participate in clinical trials,” she said.
The AHEAD Study is testing Lecanemab in people without symptoms to see if memory loss and dementia can be prevented. For more information go to AHEADStudy.org.