Doc, do you plan on administering injections of Biogen's Aducanumab to your Alzheimer patients? If so, how will you monitor for possible brain swelling and micro-hemorrhaging?
"Around 35% of patients on high-dose aducanumab experienced a side effect known as ARIA-E, a type of brain swelling that can cause headache and nausea. Usually these symptoms are mild and the swelling goes down on its own.
Even so, brain swelling is a side effect likely to unnerve FDA officials, particularly for a drug that could be prescribed to millions of U.S. patients. Another type of ARIA was fairly common and consistent across the trials, with around 18% of high-dose patients experiencing a micro-hemmorhage because of it.
Constantine Lyketsos, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said the side effects stand out, and would make him nervous to administer aducanumab for more than a year or two for fear of having a serious ARIA event."