Doctors unsure on recommending new Alzheimer's treatment

This month, the FDA approved a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, but doctors are split on whether they would recommend the drug.

This month, the FDA approved a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease -- the first in nearly 20 years. But the decision was not without controversy, with doctors split on how they feel about the treatment. Since the approval, doctors have faced questions from patients and families desperate for good news, but they are conflicted on whether to recommend and prescribe the new drug, developed by Biogen. “The news is out, and patients and families are calling with their hopes up,” said Dr. Ipsit Vahia, a geriatric psychiatrist and researcher and the medical director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Outpatient Services at McLean Hospital. "I think many people, including myself, find themselves conflicted between a strong urge to do something to help, using a tool that we couldn’t just offer previously, and balancing of course, first doing no harm and also not knowing for sure that [it] works for everyone,” Vahia said.