Aduhelm, a drug that received accelerated approval from the FDA for Alzheimer's treatment, has shown success in early trials. Now researchers are working to find a way to deliver more of the drug to the brain to boost its effectiveness, according to the study published Jan. 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The drug was the first therapy to show how removing the beta-amyloid, a key component of Alzheimer's disease, lessens overall cognitive and functional decline, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
And while it works to remove the beta-amyloid, the drug is also blocked by the blood-brain barrier, wasting most of it trying to get through the brain's protective shield without harming it, The New York Times reported.
The latest research shows that when the drug is able to more easily get through the barrier to dissolve plaque buildup, the more effective it can be.
Pivoting with this in mind, Ali Rezai, MD, study author, associate dean of neuroscience at West Virginia University in Morgantown and executive chair and director of the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, worked toward opening the blood-brain barrier and ultimately found that doing so dissolved 32% more plaque.
Protecting the barrier — which connects directly to many blood vessels that feed the brain — while opening it wider has taken years of work, The Times reported, but now a new technique may be able to safely do so in patients. A combination of injecting patients with perfluorocarbon gas and then giving tiny ultrasound pulses allows the barrier to open without damaging surrounding vessels.
In the study, Dr. Rezai and his team used this combination method on targeted areas of the brain associated with memory functions to deliver the drug through the barrier to allow it to break down plaque.
While it showed success in the targeted areas where the pulses and gas bubbles opened up the barrier, a larger scale study is necessary to see if it truly improves outcomes of patients.
Future research, should it prove to have similar outcomes, could change the way other drugs are also delivered to the brain.