World News for Students of English

10-11-2020 07:00

The US company Biogen is one step closer to get its experimental Alzheimer’s disease drug approved for use in the US.

On Wednesday, the US Food and Drug Administration staff issued documents that showed exceptionally persuasive evidence that the drug was effective. Some people addressed concerns that there had not been enough evidence that the drug worked, after one of Biogen’s two clinical trials failed.

It the drug is approved, it will be the first treatment for Alzheimer’s disease in decades and the first drug that appears to slow progression of the disease. The neurological disease affects 5.7 million people in the US alone, and the majority of people with Alzheimer’s are 65 and older. It causes a slow decline in memory, thinking, and reasoning skills. The symptoms eventually grow severe enough to interfere with daily tasks.

Difficult words: experimental drug (a drug or vaccine that has not been approved yet for use in medicine), persuasive (convincing), progression (development towards a more advanced state).

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