It's a long-needed new treatment, but experts also are voicing a lot of caution: The drug isn't a cure, it's only intended for early-stage patients, requires IV doses every two weeks, and comes with some safety concerns.
This Dec. 21, 2022 image provided by Eisai in January 2023, shows vials and packaging for their medication Leqembi. On Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, U.S. health officials approved Leqembi, a new Alzheimers drug that modestly slows the brain-robbing disease. The Food and Drug Administration granted the approval Friday for patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's.
It targets a slightly different form of that amyloid, possibly explaining why it proved successful in a rigorous study while a long list of prior amyloid-targeting drugs have failed, said Dr. Sam Gandy, an Alzheimer’s expert at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. Experts are divided over how meaningful a benefit that is. It may be hard for families to tell if a loved one's decline has slowed, Gandy said.
The likely reason: Amyloid plaques usually form around nerve cells in the brain but sometimes the gunk gets inside blood vessels, too. Pulling amyloid out of those blood vessels can weaken them, making them leaky, Gandy explained. Patients also may experience temporary reactions after the infusions that can include fever, flu-like chills, nausea and blood pressure fluctuations.The drug is only intended for people in the very early stages of Alzheimer's who also have that tell-tale amyloid buildup.
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