Neuro Central 2023: our top articles of the year
As we welcome 2024, we reflect on Neuro Central’s highlights and top-performing content of 2023. We explored various topics, including Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. The most popular topic with our readers has continued to be neurodegenerative disease, particularly Alzheimer’s, and there were some big developments in the field last year.
Ask the Experts: refractory epilepsy
Our top-performing content piece of the year was our Ask the Experts on refractory epilepsy, the term given to epilepsy that fails to respond to treatment. In this feature, Mark Richardson (King’s College London; UK), Andrea Ryan (Shape Network; London, UK), Caoimhe Twohig-Bennett (Epilepsy Research UK; London, UK) and Agnese Cattaneo (Angelini Pharma; Rome, Italy) discussed their perspectives on refractory epilepsy, including unmet needs and a new data-driven research project and the implications that it could have on the epilepsy community.
Discover the full article here
Dispelling the myth of the gendered brain with Gina Rippon
For International Women’s Day 2023, we interviewed Gina Rippon, Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Neuroimaging at Aston University (Birmingham, UK) and author of the book ‘The Gendered Brain’. Gina discussed her work dispelling the myths around gendered brains, how gender stereotyping influences children, as well as her advice to her younger self.
Novel Alzheimer’s drug donanemab displays positive results in full Phase III trial data
In July 2023, Eli Lilly (IN, USA) presented the full results from the Phase III TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 2 study on their Alzheimer’s drug donanemab. The data demonstrated that donanemab significantly slowed cognitive and functional decline for people with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. Lilly applied for US FDA approval and a decision was expected by the end of 2023, but we are yet to hear anything.
Bridging neurobiology and artificial intelligence with Kanaka Rajan
For International Women’s Day 2023, we also interviewed Kanaka Rajan, Computational Neuroscientist and Associate Professor at the Friedman Brain Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York (NY, USA). Kanaka talked about her work bridging neurobiology and artificial intelligence, using comic strips to communicate her work and her advice to her younger self.
Lecanemab approved for use by US FDA
At the beginning of January 2023, lecanemab, an anti-amyloid monoclonal antibody designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease in its early stages, was approved for use by the FDA via the Accelerated Approval pathway. In July 2023, it was announced that the FDA had converted lecanemab from accelerated approval to traditional approval, making it the first drug aimed at slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s to be granted full approval in the US. This announcement opened the door to Medicare coverage, although with a $26,500 price tag and Medicare only covering 80% of the cost, people could still face large bills.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our round-up of the most read stories from across Neuro Central in 2023. Interested in more top content? View more in key topic areas now including journal content, breaking news and conference coverage!
