A NEW drug offers fresh hope for families living with dementia as early signs show it slows the disease while the hunt continues for a cure.

New drugs hailed as a turning point in the battle against dementia have offered hope to close to 10,000 people in Worcestershire diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

However, the key remains an early diagnosis say experts from the Alzheimer's Society as the sooner those with the illness are identified, the more they can benefit from the drug.

In the last year, there have been two new drugs, lecanemab and donanemab, which can slow down the decline in memory and thinking skills of people living with early Alzheimer’s disease.

The latest figures show there are over 9,900 people living with dementia in Worcestershire alone, over 84,000 across the West Midlands and around 900,000 across the UK

Lila Williams, local services manager for the Alzheimer's Society in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, said the team support around 1,400 people across those two counties who are diagnosed with the disease. 

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However, Mrs Williams, who has experienced dementia in her own family, said people were still 'falling through the gaps' and urged people who display any symptoms to see a doctor straight away. Around four in 10 people with dementia are undiagnosed. 

"Getting that early diagnosis could make such a difference. The emphasis is on speedy, accurate diagnosis to get support and treatment they need now and in the future," she said.

"Early dementia is the key with this drug. It is giving hope back to people. There's an optimism there.

"It is the early steps to finding a cure."

She says there were no new Alzheimer's drugs for 20 years and now two have been developed within the last 12 months. It has yet to be approved for use within the NHS.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will determine if both drugs are safe for UK use, under the first step of approval.

Drugs watchdog NICE will then assess whether they are cost-effective for the NHS.

According to the Alzheimer's Society, donanemab slowed how fast memory and thinking get worse by more than 20 per cent.

The evidence from the trial suggests that the earlier in the disease the treatment was given, the greater the benefit. This means that there was more slowing in memory and thinking decline in people with fewer changes in their brains associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The delay in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease was 4.5-7.5 months over the 18 months of the trial. 

Also after one year on donanemab, nearly half of the people taking it had no decline in memory and thinking skills. 

People taking donanemab also had a 40 per cent reduction in the decline of their ability to carry out daily activities, such as managing finance, driving and carrying out hobbies. 

A spokesperson for the Alzheimer's Society said: "These are exciting results, but we don’t fully know what this will mean in the long term for people who have taken donanemab as the trial only lasted 18 months. 

"Also, 91.5 per cent of the participants in the trial were from a white background, so we need more diversity in clinical trials to prove that these drug treatments will work for everyone with early Alzheimer’s disease."

Alzheimer's Society checklist

Memory and mental ability problems

(1) Memory loss – difficulty learning new information or forgetting recent events or people’s names

(2) Struggling to find the right word

(3) Difficulty judging distances or mistaking reflections or patterns for other objects

(4) Struggling to make decisions, or making careless or risky decisions 

(5) Losing track of time and dates

(6) Asking the same question over again, or repeating phrases

(7) Putting objects in unusual places

 

Problems with daily living activities

(1) Struggling with tasks like paying bills, planning ahead, shopping

(2) Difficulty getting enough sleep

(3) Getting lost in familiar places 

 

Mood and behaviour 

(1) Becoming easily upset, irritable, or aggressive

(2) Symptoms of depression, like feeling sad or hopeless 

(3) Symptoms of anxiety, like feeling very worried or uneasy

(4) Withdrawal or losing interest in things I previously enjoyed

(5) Acting inappropriately or out of character

(6) Feeling restless and walking about