Monoclonal Antibodies

What mab drugs are available today?

What are monoclonal antibodies?

Monoclonal Antibodies for Alzheimer's disease

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Mab drugs and brain bleeds

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What are monoclonal antibodies?

What are they?

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What do they do?

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They are man-made immune cells that power drugs to treat cancer, osteoporosis, and other disorders.

They target and destroy foreign viruses, bacteria, plaques, or other unwanted pathogens in the body.

Generic names of monoclonal antibodies often end in “mab”, such as trastuzumab, rituximab, and lecanemab.

Why are they called "mab drugs"?

Monoclonal antibody drugs (or 'mab' in short) are used to treat many diseases, including cancer. It binds to a single antigen, and can be used alone or as delivery vehicles to carry other substances to the cells they’re searching for. Some mab drugs are considered immunotherapies, because they help the immune system recognize and destroy certain target cells.

How mab drugs fight Alzheimer’s

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These Alzheimer’s anti-amyloid mab drugs prevent the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain.Leqembi attaches to beta-amyloid before it forms plaques and Kisunla attaches to beta-amyloid after it has formed the plaque.

By seeking and binding to the plaques, monoclonal antibodies help clear them out of the brain.

Amyloid plaques block the communication among neural circuits and weaken brain function.

Alzheimer’s mab drugs on the market

Mab drugs on whole are still early in development, Experts say they show promise in slowing early-stage Alzheimer's. As of July 2024, only Leqembi (lecanemab) and Kisunla (donanemab) have been approved as a treatment for Alzheimer’s.

*CDR-SB: Clinical Dementia Rating–Sum of Boxes scale. A higher score indicates more impairment.

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Learn more about Alzheimer’s mab drugs

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Leqembi (FDA-approved July 6, 2023)

Kisunla (FDA-approved July 2, 2024)

Click the links below to read Being Patient's coverage on the latest -mab drugs.

Mab drugs and brain bleeds

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One side effect of Leqembi and Kisunla is brain bleeds, also called amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA). These tiny brain hemorrhages are typically so small they're asymptomatic and go undetected. However, in rare cases, they can be serious.

• Mab drugs target and remove beta-amyloid plaques in the brain, which can weaken brain blood vessels and cause bleeding.
• Individuals with the APOE4 gene have higher risk of bleeding due to higher accumulations of amyloid in their brains.
• While non-APOE4 carriers have a 5 percent risk of ARIA, carriers with one or two copies of the gene face a 15 and 33 percent risk respectively.

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The future of mab drugs for Alzheimer’s

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Read more about mab drug Research

More data

As more people take mab drugs, scientists will gather long-term data to better understand their side effects and efficacy.

More access

So far, these drugs have been hard to get, in large part due to their format. Making these originally infusion-based Alzheimer’s mab drugs available in new formats, like pills, will help expand accessibility.

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