‘Front of the line’: For Alzheimer’s patients in successful trial, a feeling of gratitude
When the news came out last month that an experimental Alzheimer’s therapy succeeded in a clinical trial, it provided a rare boost of hope for the millions facing the condition. A select group of patients felt something more: lucky.
In interviews, people who participated in the trial and their caregivers described a gratitude at somehow winding up in a study where the drug actually worked, against a backdrop of repeated failures to develop effective Alzheimer’s medications. They in effect got early access to a treatment that will only become available to others months from now, should regulators approve the medication.
