FDA approves donanemab; Banner Alzheimer’s trial participants interviewed in N.Y. Times
The FDA on Tuesday approved a new drug for Alzheimer’s disease, and clinical trials at both Banner Alzheimer’s Institute locations and Banner Sun Health Research Institute provided data that played a critical role in leading to this decision.
The drug, donanemab, to be sold under the brand name Kisunla, was shown in studies to modestly slow the pace of cognitive decline in early stages of the disease. Kisunla, made by Eli Lilly, is similar to another drug, Leqembi, approved last year. Both are intravenous infusions that attack a protein involved in Alzheimer’s, and both can slow the unfolding of dementia by several months.
An article in The New York Times includes an interview with a married couple participating in the TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 2 study at BAI in Phoenix.
Bev Krol, 69, of Phoenix has been a donanemab study participant for nearly three years. “It is not a silver bullet,” Bev’s study partner and husband, Mark Krol, told The New York Times. But, he added, “I do think it’s significant, and I do think it warrants FDA approval.”
