On Feb. 13, 2025, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis announced a new analysis recasts the benefits of Alzheimer’s treatment in relation to day-to-day impacts on patients’ lives.

In the past two years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two novel Alzheimer’s therapies, based on data from clinical trials showing that both drugs slowed the progression of the disease. But while the approvals of lecanemab and donanemab, both antibody therapies that clear plaque-causing amyloid proteins from the brain, were greeted with enthusiasm by some Alzheimer’s researchers, the response of patients has been muted.

The researchers devised a way to communicate the effects of taking the new Alzheimer’s medications in language that is accessible and understandable to patients and their families. Using these data on independence and progression, combined with the reported effects of the two drugs, the researchers calculated the amount of time a person at each stage of the disease could be expected to live or care for themselves independently without treatment, and how this progression would compare to those who received treatment.

A typical person with very mild symptoms could expect to live independently for another 29 months without treatment, 39 months with lecanemab, and 37 months with donanemab. sing these data on independence and progression, combined with the reported effects of the two drugs, the researchers calculated the amount of time a person at each stage of the disease could be expected to live or care for themselves independently without treatment, and how this progression would compare to those who received treatment.

A typical person with very mild symptoms could expect to live independently for another 29 months without treatment, 39 months with lecanemab, and 37 months with donanemab. The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, provides crucial information that can help patients and caregivers weigh the benefits against the costs and risks of treatment.