JUPITER, Fla. — A new drug to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease is bringing renewed hope to patients battling the devastating diagnosis.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly and Company's drug donanemab, under the name brand Kisunla in early July. The once a month IV infusion works by targeting amyloid in the brain.
While this new drug may not be the first of this type of treatment, it's newer, it's more convenient and it's promising some really hopeful results for patients.
Chantal Desgroseillers, 79, of Jupiter is one of the first to receive this breakthrough treatment. She's optimistic it will treat her early symptoms of Alzheimer's and start a new phase of her life.
"I’m very grateful that I’m allowed to do it," she said. "I hope it works well and that’s where I am right now, just hoping it works better than even the one I had before."
Desgroseillers spoke to WPTV reporter Stephanie Susskind as her husband of 55 years, Andre, sat by her side. Andre, a retired physician himself, has been guiding her care. With a family history of the devastating disease, the couple knew they wanted to act early and fast when she began showing symptoms.
"I saw what happened to my mom and I realized I was starting the same symptoms and that scared me," she said. "Memory loss is the main symptom. Forgetful. We’ll be talking about something. We went somewhere six months ago, and it doesn’t register right away, that kind of stuff worries me of course."
Dr. Jennifer Buczyner is Desgroseillers' doctor at First Choice Neurology. She said Desgroseillers is the perfect candidate for this treatment.
"She’s just become forgetful and when we screened her, we now have ways to test in the blood and in the brain that she had the plaques to produce Alzheimer's," Buczyner said. "So, if she had continued on without this treatment, she certainly would develop Alzheimer's in the next couple years."
She said some patients can be done with treatment in as little as six months.
"The thought is you can reduce progression of the disease by about 35% and also prevent progression into the next phase of disease," she said.
Buczyner stresses the drug is not for those who are already experiencing advanced dementia.
"The drug is actually targeted for people who have very mild cognitive impairment or early symptomatic Alzheimer's. It's really for the person who is just starting to forget things, the one who your child is like you are telling me the same story a couple times or not remembering where they left their keys, it’s not meant to be for the person who is very far along," she said. "It targets something called amyloid, which is thought to be one of the main components that triggers or causes Alzheimer's. I think it brings a lot of hope. One, again we slow down progression, but the other thing is two, we are catching people early. If we can catch people early, start this treatment and maybe intervene on other risk factors."
She said the treatment does require frequent MRI monitoring for side effects and there are several tests and screenings patients need to go through to see if they are a candidate.
Desgroseillers hopes this will give her more time to enjoy her children and grandchildren.
"The first day I can’t remember one of their names, it’ll be disaster for me. I don’t even want to think about it," she said. "I will try anything not to deteriorate the way I saw my mom. Hopefully, it will be working and I’m very positive about it. We’ll see what happens."
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