A drug that slows the progression of Alzheimer’s disease will soon be available in the United States.
United States has approved a new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. According to news agency AFP, the much-anticipated drug leqembi, also known as lecanemab, was approved just days after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved another Alzheimer’s drug called aduhelm.
Experts in the field have described the leqembi drug as a “historic breakthrough”, as it slows down the progression of the disease. Until now, there have only been drugs for the degenerative brain disease that help the patient’s symptoms.
The FDA has also been criticized for issuing permits, as clinical tests have shown that the new drug can cause brain swelling and bleeding as a side effect.
Read more: A drug in the trial phase can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease – Professor: “Historical”
AFP According to the report, both drugs for the treatment of memory disorders were approved in the United States through an accelerated process, which is used for drugs that can treat serious diseases for which there have not been enough effective treatments in the past.
According to the FDA, Legembi brings “necessary development to the ongoing battle to effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease.” According to the FDA representative, it is the newest and most effective form of treatment and attacks the disease itself instead of treating the symptoms.
However, the drug does not cure Alzheimer’s disease, but only slows down its progression.
In September according to published research results, leqembi slowed down the deterioration of cognitive functions in 27 percent of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The drug worked better in those whose disease was only in the early stages.
In the third phase of the studies, almost 1,800 people participated, who were divided into those who received a placebo and leqembi. The study lasted 18 months and the patients were given medicine and placebo every two weeks.
Criticism has been sparked by the fact that the study found that approximately 17 percent of the patients who received the medicine suffered from brain hemorrhages, while the corresponding figure for those who received the placebo was nine percent. About 12 percent of those who received the drug had brain swelling, while only 1.7 percent of those who received the placebo suffered from it. Mortality was the same in both groups.
Leqembi is a synthetically produced antibody that, as it were, cleans amyloid from the brain. In Alzheimer’s disease, a mass of amyloid protein accumulates in the brain, which weakens the function of brain cells. According to AFP, clinical trials found that the now-approved drug significantly reduced accumulations in the brain.
However, new drugs are expensive. Their annual price tag is estimated to be several tens of thousands of dollars.
About 6.5 Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. According to estimates, there are approximately 70,000 patients in Finland.
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