FASTER, PLEASE: Alzheimer’s progression slowed by drug in major trial. “Eisai and partner Biogen said their drug significantly slowed Alzheimer’s disease, making it the first medicine to blunt progression of the most common type of dementia in a definitive, large-scale trial. Lecanemab reduced the pace of cognitive decline in people with early Alzheimer’s by 27% over 18 months when compared with a placebo, meeting the main goal of the trial, the companies said in a statement. The benefits came with side effects, including brain swelling and bleeding, though severe cases were rare. The result marks a major milestone for researchers who have been trying in vain for decades to stop the inexorable decline tied to the disease.”

27% is nice, but hardly dramatic.