Mayo Clinic experts discuss new Alzheimer’s treatment option

Jun 15, 2021 | Jennifer O'Hara | @jenohara

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration approved aducanumab to treat Alzheimer’s disease, which is a progressive brain disorder that is the most common cause of dementia.

Aducanumab targets amyloid plaques in the brain that are believed to be an essential component of Alzheimer’s disease. But what does the approval of a new Alzheimer's drug mean for patients?

On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Ronald Petersen, a Mayo Clinic neurologist and director of Mayo Clinic’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and Dr. David Knopman, a Mayo Clinic neurologist, discuss the challenges ahead to identify the appropriate patients for treatment with aducanumab.

To practice safe social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, this interview was conducted using video conferencing. The sound and video quality are representative of the technology used. For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.

Read the full transcript.

For more information, go to the Mayo Clinic News Network and mayoclinic.org.

Connect with others talking about caring for someone with Alzheimer's and supporting one another in the Caregivers: Dementia support group.

_____________________________________________________

Disclosures

Dr. Petersen has consulted with Biogen on aducanumab, but he was not involved in the design or execution of the clinical trials.

Dr. Knopman is a former member of the FDA's Peripheral and Central Nervous System Advisory Committee, but he was recused for the aducanumab advisory hearing because he was a site principal investigator for one of Biogen's aducanumab trials.

Mayo Clinic campuses in Rochester, Minnesota, and Jacksonville, Florida, participated in aducanumab clinical trials.