Last June, the American Food and Drug Administration conditionally approved aducanumab, marketed as Adulehm, to treat those suffering from early Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. It's the first drug in nearly 20 years to gain some kind of approval, even though other countries' health agencies, including Canada's, are still reviewing the data. There are concerns the drug causes brain bleeding and swelling, and may not be an effective treatment.

Nonetheless, it's a massive step forward for a disease that affects at least 44 million people worldwide, including 750,000 Canadians, with real patients taking the drug in clinical trials right now.

To mark January as Alzheimer's Awareness Month, we're joined by Sharon Cohen, a neurologist who runs Canada’s busiest memory clinic, in Toronto. Cohen's usually got more than a dozen research projects and clinical trials with different drugs and treatments on the go. She's hoping one of them—maybe aducanumab—will turn out to be the cure.

What we talked about:

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.