- A new drug was found to slow the progression of people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease.
- A man who was part of the medical trial for donanemab said he has gained confidence.
An 80-year-old man gained the confidence to sing to a crowd of 40 people on his birthday after participating in the medical trial of a new Alzheimer's drug called donanemab.
Mike Colley, who is based in the UK, had been experiencing memory problems as well as difficulty making decisions and problem-solving before taking the drug, he told BBC News.
Alzheimer's diseaseis the most common type of dementia, and starts with mild memory loss and progresses until a person is unable to carry out daily activities.
Insider previously reported that donanemab, produced by the pharma giant Eli Lilly, had been found to successfully slow cognitive and functional decline in patients with early-stage Alzheimer's by 35% over 18 months, compared to those taking a placebo.
The results from a new study published in the journal JAMA on Monday also found that donanemab slowed the progression of the disease, which meant participants generally maintained their ability to perform daily tasks, as measured by what is known as the integrated Alzheimer Disease Rating Scale. The study involved 1,736 people aged 60 to 85 with early-stage Alzheimer's.
Colley said that he was gaining confidence every day and that 12 months ago he would never have been able to pull off his birthday performance of "My Way" by Frank Sinatra.
His son Mark told BBC News that he thinks his dad's decline has reached a plateau for now. "I never thought I would see my dad so full of life again. It was an incredible moment," he said.
Donanemab targets a protein that builds up in the brain of those with Alzheimer's
The drug works in a similar way to the recently FDA-approved Alzheimer's drug lecanemab. It targets a protein called amyloid, which builds up in the brains of people with the degenerative disease, according to the Alzheimer's Society. It is thought the buildups are toxic to brain cells and lead to the symptoms of the disease.
Donanemab is taken as an injection every four weeks and, as Eli Lilly stated in May, 72% of phase 3 trial participants completed their course of treatment by 18 months as all of the amyloid had been cleared.
However, the drug doesn't come without some side effects. Brain swelling was reported in some participants, and while this resolved by itself in most cases, two volunteers, and possibly a third, died as a result of dangerous swelling, according to Eli Lilly.
Eli Lilly has submitted the drug for FDA approval, and expects updates by the end of the year, according to CNN