Passive anti-amyloid β immunotherapy in Alzheimer's disease—opportunities and challenges

Abstract

With the advent of the first disease-modifying, anti-amyloid β-directed passive immunotherapy for Alzheimer's disease, questions arise who, when, and how to treat. This paper describes shortly the pathogenic basis of and preclinical data, which have, more than two decades ago, initiated the development of this vaccination therapy. We discuss clinical trial results of aducanumab, lecanemab, and donanemab. We also review appropriate use recommendations of these novel treatments on patient selection and safety monitoring. Furthermore, estimations of numbers of patient who will qualify for treatment regarding inclusion and exclusion criteria and estimations on readiness of health-care systems for identifying the right patients and for providing the treatment are reported. In our view, we are experiencing a fundamental shift from syndrome-based Alzheimer's dementia care to early, biomarker-guided treatment of Alzheimer's disease. This shift requires substantial adjustments of infrastructure and resources, but also holds promise of eventually achieving substantial slowing of disease progression and delaying dementia.