Cochrane Review Finds Anti-Amyloid Drugs Offer No Meaningful Benefit for Alzheimer’s and Increase Brain Swelling Risk

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:56:00 +0200

A comprehensive Cochrane systematic review analyzing data from 17 clinical trials involving over 20,000 participants has concluded that anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies, designed to clear amyloid beta plaques from the brain, provide little to no meaningful clinical benefit for patients with mild cognitive impairment or early-stage Alzheimer’s dementia. The drugs, which successfully reduce amyloid levels, fail to produce noticeable improvements in memory, cognitive function, or disease progression that would be considered relevant in everyday clinical practice. Lead author Francesco Nonino emphasized the distinction between statistical significance in trials and real-world clinical relevance for patients. Safety concerns were also prominent in the findings. The medications were associated with elevated risks of brain swelling (ARIA-E) and bleeding (ARIA-H), often detected only through imaging and not always accompanied by noticeable symptoms. The long-term implications of these side e