Health Check - FDA approves new Alzheimer’s drug

FDA approves new Alzheimer’s drug

Download FDA approves new Alzheimer’s drug

Aducanumab the controversial new drug for Alzheimer’s disease, just approved by the FDA in the US is the first approved breakthrough in nearly 20 years. But, as Sarah Boseley explains, scientists dispute the drug’s effectiveness.

Good news from a study published in Lancet Healthy Longevity looking at protection levels from getting Covid. It studied the risk of COVID reinfection in care home staff and occupants up to 10 months after first being unwell and showed substantial levels of protection is retained.

And a new paper on Vitamin D deficiency in Africa – the first large prevalence study in children on the continent.

Plus bestselling author and gynaecologist Dr Jen Gunter on her Menopause Manifesto, part two in our mini-series on Health Check. Dr Gunter unpicks the facts and feminism of how society’s focus on what happens to women’s bodies has shaped and hindered treatment for the menopause.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Erika Wright

Image: Abstract medical icon of head showing Alzheimer's memory loss due to dementia and brain disease
Credit: wildpixel/Getty Images

Published on Wednesday, 9th June 2021.

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