New Alzheimer's drug aducanumab controversial & costly. Discover how light therapy offers a proven, safer alternative for managing Alzheimer's symptoms.
While alternative treatments are advancing non-pharmacological options, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to promote pharmaceutical therapies even when evidence for their superiority is lacking.
The FDA recently granted accelerated approval to aducanumab (Biogen) for early-stage Alzheimer’s disease despite conflicting efficacy data. Many families initially welcomed the news, yet subsequent findings have raised questions about the drug’s clinical value.
Two large clinical trials were stopped after an interim analysis showed insufficient benefit. A later re-analysis of one trial suggested a modest reduction in cognitive decline in patients receiving the higher dose, forming the basis for approval.
Aducanumab is priced at an estimated $20,000–$50,000 per patient per year, with roughly two million Americans potentially eligible. Less costly, non-invasive options such as light therapy receive comparatively little attention.
While the drug remains controversial, patients may wish to explore additional evidence-based approaches. Pre-clinical studies indicate that light therapy may slow certain Alzheimer’s-related changes.
Providing a low-cost, non-invasive intervention conflicts with pharmaceutical business models, yet emerging data continue to accumulate.
How might light therapy affect Alzheimer’s pathology?
Alzheimer’s progressively damages brain cells. Laboratory work shows that specific wavelengths of light may support cellular function by enhancing neuronal connectivity, dampening neuro-inflammation, and reducing cell death.
In 2016, MIT researchers reported that flickering light delivered to mouse eyes reduced toxic amyloid and tau deposits. Light exposure also appeared to suppress beta-amyloid accumulation, allowing neurons to stabilize.
Additionally, the treatment restored gamma brain rhythms, which are impaired in Alzheimer’s. Senior author Li-Huei Tsai noted that “neurodegeneration was largely prevented” in the animal model.
Finally, light therapy may enhance the ability of microglia—resident immune cells—to clear inflammatory debris, thereby limiting plaque and tangle formation.
PubMed: Light therapy and Alzheimer’s models Nature: Gamma entrainment reduces amyloid FDA: Drug approval information
Currently, no other method is known to offer this degree of neuroprotection. Light therapy is the only alternative approach that is reporting measurable benefits. While some drugs remain under review, early data suggest that innovative options such as light therapy may help patients in the present.
We manufacture MDA-certified and FDA-registered light-therapy devices suitable for clinic or home use, giving people with Alzheimer’s a further option to consider.
This information is educational and not a substitute for professional medical advice.
FDA device database PubMed search: photobiomodulation dementia
