Revolution or mirage? Controversy surrounds new Alzheimer’s drugs

Two new drugs, the first capable of slowing down the debilitating progression of Alzheimer’s disease, have become embroiled in one of the biggest medical controversies in recent years.

For their defenders, the drugs lecanemab and donanemab represent the first real chance to fight the disease after decades of research — for detractors, they are another disappointment after a long line of costly failures.

“We have turned a corner” thanks to these treatments, said British biologist John Hardy, who has been studying Alzheimer’s since the 1990s.