Treatment to slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients

Britain’s medicines and health products regulatory body (MHRA) has approved a long-awaited treatment to slow cognitive decline in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s, inform AFP and Agerpres.

Leqembi, which has an active ingredient called lecanemab, is “the first anti-Alzheimer’s disease treatment to be authorized for use in the UK and has proven effectiveness in slowing the progression of the disease”, added The MHRA emphasized it in a statement.

Despite decades of research, scientists have so far failed to make significant progress in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, which affects tens of millions of people worldwide.

Leqembi, which was developed by the Japanese pharmaceutical laboratory Eisai in collaboration with the American manufacturer Biogen, was approved in January 2023 in the United States for patients who have not reached an advanced stage of the disease. It is also marketed in Japan and China.

On the other hand, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) ruled in July against being placed on the market. This confirmed the “risk of serious side effects” with “possible bleeding in the brain of patients”, the cited sources also report.

The British group emphasizes, in turn, that the bleeding risk is higher for a group of patients with a specific genetic profile, representing 15% of the diagnoses. The medicine is not approved for these patients.

Although the drug is now officially approved, the public health service (NHS) considered in an opinion published on Thursday that its benefits are “too small to justify the high costs”.

He emphasizes that the treatment delays the disease between four and six months, but that it requires, in addition to the cost of the treatment, a visit to the hospital every 15 days and strict control of side effects.

Treatment that is administered intravenously once every two weeks allows, according to clinical studies, to reduce amyloid plaques.

Labels: alzheimer, alzheimer treatment, decrease in cognition