{"id":29442,"date":"2021-06-20T12:44:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-20T19:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?p=29442"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:34:13","slug":"alzheimers-treatment-approved-by-fda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/alzheimers-treatment-approved-by-fda\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Living News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On June 7 of this year, the U.S. Food &amp; Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first novel therapy for Alzheimer\u2019s disease in nearly two decades. With over 6 million Americans currently living with the disease, the approval certainly made history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alzheimer\u2019s today<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a disease that decelerates memory and cognitive function over time, Alzheimer\u2019s \u2014 a devastating form of dementia \u2014 has become the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. And with the disease primarily effecting older adults, including roughly 42% of assisted living residents in the U.S., the topic of treatment has long been relevant in the senior living industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29443\" width=\"256\" height=\"144\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?resize=1536,864 1536w, https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?w=400 400w, https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?w=500 500w, https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?w=600 600w, https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?w=720 720w, https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg?w=1440 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe need for treatment is urgent,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcknightsseniorliving.com\/home\/news\/fda-approves-first-treatment-for-alzheimers-in-18-years\/\">said Patrizia Cavazzoni<\/a>, M.D., director of the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FDA approves novel therapy &nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What exactly is the latest treatment for Alzheimer\u2019s, and what does the approval mean? As the decision generated significant attention, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/drugs\/news-events-human-drugs\/fdas-decision-approve-new-treatment-alzheimers-disease\">FDA announcement<\/a> aimed to answer such questions. Let\u2019s take a look:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The therapy, Aduhelm (aducanumab), has been authorized to treat patients with Alzheimer\u2019s disease using the accelerated approval pathway. Under this, the FDA approves a drug for a serious or life-threatening illness \u2014 if it may provide meaningful therapeutic benefit over existing treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the treatment doesn\u2019t cure or reverse Alzheimer\u2019s disease, the FDA announcement emphasized that \u201cthe approval is significant in many ways.\u201d To name a few:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Aduhelm is the first novel therapy approved for Alzheimer\u2019s since 2003<\/li><li>It\u2019s the first treatment directed at the underlying pathophysiology of the disease, which is the presence of amyloid beta plaques in the brain<\/li><li>The clinical trials were the first to show that a reduction in plaques is expected to reduce the clinical decline of Alzheimer\u2019s&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>For some, these findings were seen as a positive breakthrough. For others, the approval sparked controversy and intense debate given the uncertainties of Aduhelm and its effect on Alzheimer\u2019s patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe data included in the applicant\u2019s submission were highly complex and left residual uncertainties regarding clinical benefit,\u201d shared the FDA in their announcement. \u201cThere has been considerable public debate on whether Aduhelm should be approved. As is often the case when it comes to interpreting scientific data, the expert community has offered differing perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what are the uncertainties?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcknightsseniorliving.com\/home\/news\/fda-approves-first-treatment-for-alzheimers-in-18-years\/\">Relayed by McKnight\u2019s Senior Living<\/a>, Aduhelm underwent two \u201cphase three\u201d clinical trials. One showed a reduction in clinical decline for Alzheimer\u2019s patients, whereas the second trial did not. However, both trials indicated that the treatment reduced plaque levels in the brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And according to the FDA, this reduction is expected to reduce clinical decline in those with Alzheimer\u2019s. With that, they moved forward with the approval \u2014 concluding that the benefits outweighed the risks. Next steps involve a phase four confirmatory trial in which the clinical benefit is verified. If it can\u2019t be verified, the FDA could remove Aduhelm from the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The approval ultimately led to mixed responses from researchers, advisors and medical experts. Nonetheless, the treatment has potential to change the lives of those with Alzheimer\u2019s and their families, including older adults residing in senior living communities. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/drugs\/news-events-human-drugs\/fdas-decision-approve-new-treatment-alzheimers-disease\">Read more about the approved Alzheimer&#8217;s treatment and the implications<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On June 7 of this year, the U.S. Food &amp; Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first novel therapy for Alzheimer\u2019s disease in nearly two decades. With over 6 million Americans currently living with the disease, the approval certainly made history. Alzheimer\u2019s today As a disease that decelerates memory and cognitive function over time, Alzheimer\u2019s \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":782,"featured_media":29443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2952],"tags":[842],"class_list":["post-29442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senior-living","tag-senior-living"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v24.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yardi Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The FDA approved the first novel therapy for Alzheimer\u2019s disease in nearly two decades.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/alzheimers-treatment-approved-by-fda\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senior Living News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The FDA approved the first novel therapy for Alzheimer\u2019s disease in nearly two decades.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/alzheimers-treatment-approved-by-fda\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yardi Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-20T19:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-22T23:34:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/06\/246147815-1920x1080-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natalie Mahn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natalie Mahn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/alzheimers-treatment-approved-by-fda\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/alzheimers-treatment-approved-by-fda\/\",\"name\":\"Alzheimer\u2019s Treatment Approved by FDA - 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