♪ >> time for a quick check of the top stories on al jazeera. in world cup football news four-time champions germany as you just heard are out of the world cup for the second tournament running. they beat costa rica, it was not enough of them, both teams went out. that result ensuring germany went out meant joy for japan, japan and spain go through. morocco in the last 16 with two goals in the first half, they finish 2-1. is the first time morocco reached the round of 16 since 1986.

french leader emmanuel macron is in the u.s. in this first state visit to the country since president biden took office. the leaders discussing a number of global issues and would join in condemning russia's war in ukraine. they already urging china to use their influence on russia to end the war in ukraine. he says -- china says that a political solution is needed. the two leaders meeting at a time of strangulation partly in due to the treatment of the uighur minority. he says he raised the issue of rights. >> human rights are universal. we welcome resuming the human rights chinese dialogue. this has not been convened for more than three years. this is an important signal, and dialogue to allow us to focus wider human rights policy issues. >> the spokesman for south

africa's president says he is engaging with members of the ruling african ethical -- national congress over his portico future. an independent -- political future. an independent final -- panel county violated his oath of office. the army of the democratic republic of the democratic republic of congo says m 23 rebels and allies killed 50 civilians in eastern town. the group denies response ability, people have protested against the violence, the killing threatening a cease-fire that was negotiated over the weekend. those of the headlines, the news continues on al jazeera after inside story. stay tuned, thank you for watching, goodbye for now. ♪

>> a new drug is being touted as a breakthrough as a cure for alzheimer's come is the first degenetive injury -- diseasehe is not without risk. how is important is the trial and what will the impact be on millions? this is "inside story." >> hello and welcome to the program. japanese-american companies have published results of a trial that is being hailed as a breakthrough in the fight against all timers disease. data shows how the new drug can slow down cognitive decline in some patient by 27%, involving

the 2000 what has been to her in of the incident -- illness, health experts say one person develops dementia every three seconds, all timers is the most common cause of dementia. dementia costs are more than $1 trillion globally, about a third of the u.k. animal gdp, that includes direct medical care, and early costs. -- we will bring in our guest in a moment. first this report from harry in london. >> for over 30 years scientists have tried and failed to design a drug that tackles the cause of the symptoms of alzheimer's disease. now comes the first evidence of success, and antibody infusion that tactics -- that attacks a protein in the brain slowing the development of alzheimer's attacks by a quarter. >> we thought this approach

might work 30 years ago. if you had asked me 30 years ago , how long would take would say five to 10 years. for me, it seems definitely mentis. -- momentous. for patients it is a real step forward. a real step forward. it will take a couple of years to get it into the system. reporter: it is patients like john, in the early stages of the disease that stand to benefit the most. john felt just -- says he felt the ground open up and he was diagnosed he would take anything to give him more time with his wife in this family. >> you know you will end up like there is nothing you can do about it. you cannot worry about it. there is not a lot you can do. i am being acceptingf it. reporter: the new drug inhibits the buildup in the brain of a protein, visible as plaque in

the brain of alzheimer's patients. nearly 1800 patients around the world took part of the study. if approved the treatment will be laborious and costly to administer through blood infusions twice a month. it will also require major investment in screening for the disease to catch a sufficiently early. >> at the moment we do that through pet scans or cerebral final -- spinal fluid testing through a lumbar puncture. we need to broaden access to ways in which we can have access to those kinds of tests. we also want to see new techniques that are quicker, faster, potentially cheaper. for example blood tests. reporter: 30 million people around the world suffer with graeme sutherland. it -- suffer with alzheimer's. this is a significant first

step. mohammed: let's bring in our guests, in glasgow, graeme sutherland who uses social media to raise awareness about all timers after his mother was diagnosed. he is a social media best of all time or -- alzheimer's scotland. in the u.k. bart de strooper. and in cambridge susan kohlhaas. thank you for joining us today, susan let's start with you today. the results from this clinical trial, how big of a breakthrough is this? susan: this is a historic moment for alzheimer's research. the first time we've actually shown a drug that you give to people can slow cognitive decline. it is what we've been waiting for the field for many years. his sake -- it is a combination

of research, patient effort, and people participating in clinical trials. a fantastic news for the field and shows that dementia is not an inevitable part of aging. we are delighted. mohammed: let me follow-up, you mentioned this is slowing cognitive decline. this clinical trial found 18 months, patients receiving it declined slower than patients taking a placebo. that difference is it enough to be meaningful? susan: we do not have consensus at the moment. there are a couple of big unknowns. first, this drug gives a modest effect. it is important to manage people's expectations on that. this is a first generation drug. we would not normally see major impacts for a first generation drug. the second thing to remember, is

that, for somebody who is developing alzheimer's disease, in the early stages of alzheimer's, what is meaningful could be really different. it could give people more time with their families. more time to live independently. i think that is not to be understated for the patient community that has waited for decades for treatments. finally, we do not have yet, because it is too early, long-term data on whether intervention early on can change the trajectory of the disease later on. those long-term studies, will be really key in determining whether or not we see effects much longer than the 18 months we have studied to date. mohammed: i saw you nodding along to what susan has said, as somebody who has public documented the toll alzheimer's

has taken on your mother and your family, what was your reaction when he heard the news about the results of this trial? graeme: it is brilliant it does give some hope for the future, for people whose family or loved ones is diagnosed with this disease. when my mom was diagnosed there was not anything at all. the fate was sealed at that point. there is at least that part in the -- path in the right direction. mohammed: how long ago was your mother diagnosed? what told that take, finding that out for you, her, other members of your family? graeme: she was diagnosed seven years ago now. it has been quite slow, but sped up more recently. the toll has been very, gradual, but very mental impact, you're watching your loved one. i am watching my mom slowly ate away from me. it has -- fade away from me.

it affects all the family. you have to take care that person because there is not a lot of funding and places to help. people like myself and my sister have in life to deal with that. mohammed: this approach to treating alzheimer's has been in the works for over 30 years. why did take this long? what is it if it's between this form of treatment and other forms of treatment that have been attempted in the past? >> that is a good question. first of all, why does it take so long? the brain is one of the most difficult, i think we all agree it is a very difficult organ, much more difficult than anything else we study. it is also very protected from environments. that means getting medication to the brain is very difficult. if you really asked me why has taken so long i think is because

it has usually -- hugely been underfunded all these years. if you compare it, for instance, cancer where we have seen lots of progress it is a 15 fold difference. it takes much more time to get money together to could do investigations. those of the two reasons, a very difficult problem and and under -- an underfunded field. the way it works compared to others, the genetic proof that there are accumulations in the brain are causally related to the disease have been there for many years. because of trials, trying to tackle it fairly, there is a lot of criticism. people thought it might not be the right way. it is for scientists like me, very satisfying to see we were on the right track. being stubborn is a necessity if

you want to achieve something. are there other ways to treat it? first of all we need to find other ways to reverse the plaque. the way we have now is far too expensive. people wanted all over the world for the 35 million people with dimension -- 55 million people with dementia and hundred 35 million and 50 years. --alzheimer's also characterized by other lesions, for instance, the names are not important, the results are and inflammation in the brain. --an inflammation in the brain. obviously, is similar [indiscernible] the track we have now it would

be the same. that is a nice thing, now we have a breakthrough. it will be much easier now to test new, and go forward. mohammed: i just want to drill down on something you mentioned. you are mentioning this word amyloid. this new drug is an antibody. it prohibits the buildup in the brain of this protein in the brain called beta amyloid. bart: we do not know how works. mohammed: if you could explain to the viewer what is the will of data amyloid and what role -- beta-amyloid and what role does it play? bart: to make a short it produces proteins, little sheens that do everything, thinking, working, eating, these are small building blocks.

they are small fragments of it, a small fragment of the precursor is amyloid. you can see there is a small police that looks like -- peace that looks like a stone. they accumulate in the brain and causes problems there. amyloid peptides, small pieces that accumulate are forms of lack in the brain. mohammed: i saw you nodding when bart was talking about, from his perspective one of the reasons that has taken this long to get where we are is because the research into alzheimer's is underfunded. do you think the results of the clinical trial will spur more funding? will this fight be better funded going forward? graeme: hopefully. as you said, cancer is very

mainstream, alzheimer's is very very underfunded and not really spoken about as much as all the illnesses out there. cancer has a lot of cures and treatments whereas alzheimer's has nothing until now. hopefully this is a start of something that can be spoken about more, more awareness is raised to raise morning and -- raise more money and funds in the future. mohammed: susan, early detection of neurodegenerative disorders is crucial for recognizing alzheimer's or cognitive decline overall. do you sink -- think we will see more breakthroughs on this front? susan: we have to, we are on the precipice of having the first generation that can. slow disease processes. . it will do us no good and less we can start to identify and treat people early.

missing a number of bright fears -- we have seen a number of breakthroughs that have been less high-profile looking at different and cheaper ways of identifying people who have the pathology in the brain associated with alzheimer's disease. measuring the ability to measure in the blood, for example a buildup of amyloid's is how. what we need to do in the field is focus how do we get people diagnosed early into the clinic. offer access to drugs, when they finally do come through the reglet tori process, also -- reglet tori process, also get them involved in the research. turn into more discoveries. what happens when we lower amyloid in the brain? what other processes are going on? how can we start to target those?

it is important to remember there are over 140 different treatments in clinical trials right now for alzheimer's. most of them are not for amyloid. it is probably this era of starting to think about what would combination treatments look like and how would we do that as a field? it will really shift the dialogue of what we are able to do. mohammed: i saw you nodding to what she was saying, looks like you want to jump in. bart: i was just agreeing. getting away from the taboo, which surrounds alzheimer's and dementia. it is crucial if you want a society to face a problem, you will probably not talk about it today, but it is essential that our governments, our responsible people start to think about how we organize that. this drug will not make it so all the sudden know people have dementia.

it will start to bend the curve and we have to work hard to get new drugs. i usually compared with aids. people remember as a disease with no cure. in the beginning we did not know how to deal with it. then there was a drug that worked, but not fantastic. then it got better and better drugs. nowadays we have a cure for that disorder. that is about the timeframe, for alzheimer's, we will see valuable improvements. when you think both about investing in research. investing in new cures. also investing in care and diagnosis of the patient's. you need to start to take that in a professional way. the last point i also want to make. there is a lot of confusion about dementia and alzheimer's. these are all neurodegenerative disorders. you have alzheimer's coming also

have parkinson's disease, you have multiple sclerosis. they are all the same principle of disease. i would expect we will see very soon, using these on the success we make here. it is important to realize that many people who have been diagnosed with alzheimer's have mixed forms of neurodegenerative -- neurodegeneration. it is important to broaden the portfolio and to further deep based research. that is not mentioned at all. it is research that makes this possible. we will need to treat all these other mechanisms of neurodegenerative -- neurodegeneration. >> we ran a report earlier for my collie, a set of the treatment was approved would be -- colleague, if it is approved

it will be expensive. they will need treatment twice a month. first of all, how difficult would be for patients to get this treatment if it is approved? are you concerned it will be too expensive to be widely available? graeme: it could cause issues. from my mom's perspective it is too late for her. even getting 2 clinics for anyone to administrate those treatments would be difficult. the cost of it is very difficult as a former care of my mom to be able to afford things like that. a lot of carers are giving up their jobs and living at home with their parent to look after them. i do not know over there get the money from to do that. if the government paid for that it would be very expensive. i do not know whether get the funding for that. that is why more awareness needs to be raised for it to raise those funds for people.

mohammed: may i ask because you've been so public and open of what it is like for you and your family to deal with it, if you have been told earlier on in the course of this disease that your mother is suffering from. that this may have been a viable option. how would you have felt to get that extra time? what does the potential of this mean for those that are just now hearing about a diagnosis? about potentially getting a little bit extra time with a relative if this drug is ultimately approved? graeme: the moot point is time, time is taken away from us from -- as a family, moments never experienced. you see it as time come if you have the option then you would definitely look into it and do what you could to get it. i think there is also side effects. the side effects could be alleviated by -- outweighed by

the positives. if it does save time, it families spend more time together, create more memories, just have life events together that they would not be able to experience. we do not know how long each patient lasts in -- how long speech lasts in alzheimer's. my mom cannot speak anymore. even to get that year back it would be ■priceless. mohammed: you heard him talk about the side effects, experts have already warned about potential side effects of this drug. what are some of the side effects and concerns going forward? susan: the main side effect many people are concerned about is something called -- it is swelling and micro-bleeds. on the brain. it is important to note that

this is not been through regulartory approval. in these two get approval, from regulators in different countries and they will look at the side effects in detail. the way the effectiveness of the drug and the safety profile. they will provide recommendations and conditions of how it could be used and what monitoring people need to go through in order to access the drug. just to make a couple of points, one of the things, for people to remember, is not what transfusions. it is in fusions. going hospital for an hour or so, have the drug puts on a trip and the drug goes into your system that way. mohammed: apologies for that. susan: it is a very easy mistake to make, do not worry. the other thing people should be aware of, each country will have its own system for deciding how

the drug should be given. if it is subsidized or paid for by that country's. health system. those conversation between the company in each of those different countries have not started yet. we do not have any information on exactly what the drug would cost or how it would be administered. i think it is fair to say come in most countries, in the u.k., the nhs is not ready to deliver this drug. the time is now to get governments, charities, clinicians, and people affected by alzheimer's disease to work out how to get the system ready to deliver treatment at large. not just this specific treatment. we do not want to lose any time to do that. the research effort has been put in, we want to make sure people can benefit as quickly as possible. mohammed: if there is one message you would like to give the viewers out there about what

kind of toll this disease takes on bennett -- families, individuals, what would that be? graeme: it is completely life-changing. it still so much from you. i think a lot of people think this is a person -- as opposed to my mom, she was early onset. it is becoming younger. it is becoming a problem. younger and younger. people need to speak more about it and be more outspoken about it. i myself try to raise as much awareness as possible. as life-changing and does affect everything to do in life. my mom is my only parent left. it has that mental and physical toll on you. for all families it is life-changing. mohammed: we have another time,

we will have to leave that conversation. thank you so much to our guests. bart de strooper, graeme sutherland, susan kohlhaas. you can go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. for me, and the whole team at doha, by. -- goodbye. óróxór[r q■q■a?cf