Marc Suárez-Calvet

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have published new findings in Nature on the role of reduced lithium levels in Alzheimer's disease, based on experiments with mice and analysis of brain tissue and blood samples from humans. The team claims to have achieved improvements in memory in mouse models with lithium orotate. They caution that they have not proven that lithium is safe or effective in protecting against neurodegeneration in patients, and that their findings must be confirmed in humans through clinical trials.

EMA’s human medicines committee has recommended not authorising the marketing of Kisunla (donanemab), a drug intended for the treatment of early-stage Alzheimer's disease. The committee considered that the benefits of this drug were not great enough to outweigh the risk of potentially fatal events. In recent years, several patients have died due to microbleeds in the brain.

Less than four months after the European Medicines Agency recommended in July not to grant marketing authorisation for Leqembi™ (lecanemab) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, the EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has reassessed the available evidence to conclude that the benefits outweigh the risks.

Klotho is a protein whose concentrations tend to decline with age and which has been linked to ageing processes. Now, researchers have found that administration of the protein improves cognitive function in aged rhesus macaques, including benefits in spatial and working memory. According to the authors, who publish the results in the journal Nature Aging, its use "may be therapeutic in humans".

Swedish research involving more than 6,000 male footballers in the country's top division (between 1924 and 2019) indicates that they were 1.5 times more likely to develop a neurodegenerative disease compared to the population analysed who were not involved in professional football. Unlike outfield players, goalkeepers did not have this increased risk, which, according to the authors, supports the hypothesis that impacts to the head when striking the ball could explain the increased risk. The study is published in The Lancet Public Health.

A study published in the journal Neurology claims to have confirmed the usefulness of a biomarker in blood to diagnose Alzheimer's disease without the need for other tests.

A few weeks ago, a press release from the Biogen and Eisai companies reported significant results from their lecanemab antibody for the treatment of early-stage Alzheimer's. The data from the phase 3 trial are now published in the New England Journal of Medicine, coinciding with the CTAD conference on Alzheimer's disease clinical trials in San Francisco. Data from the phase 3 clinical trial are now published in the New England Journal of Medicine, coinciding with the 15th CTAD Alzheimer's disease clinical trials conference in San Francisco.