Alzheimer’s drug may raise the risk of brain bleed in patients with Down syndrome
A year ago, after much fanfare and controversy, the Food and Drug Administration approved Eisai and Biogen’s lecanemab, an anti-amyloid drug that moderately slowed cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. But the drug and its pharmacological cousin, Eli Lilly’s donanemab, have yet to be prescribed for people with Down syndrome, the population with the highest prevalence of the disease.
The treatment delay might be helpful, however. When researchers treated post-mortem brain tissue of people with Down syndrome with lecanemab, they determined that this population might face higher risk factors. Compared to the general population, their cerebral vasculature could put them at a higher risk of brain hemorrhages and brain swelling — the same side effects the FDA discussed when it approved the drug.
