After what I thought would be a break from the next new experimental dementia drug announcement, along comes lecanemab! Like aduhelm that I previously wrote about, this drug shows marginal improvement, at early stages of dementia, to some people. In other words, the data is statistically significant, but not yet clinically meaningful. The risks seem to be the same; brain swelling and brain bleeding.
Like other failed experimental drugs, this one also targets amyloid deposits. So if you believe, like many researchers still do, that amyloid plaques are the main cause of Alzheimer's disease, then lecanemab holds promise. For millions of dementia sufferers and their loved ones, it is easy to see how desperate we are for something...anything, that can improve the quality of life; even a little bit. So the excitement around these announcements that offer a glimpse of hope is certainly understandable.
Anyway, no word yet on potential FDA approval; will this be fast-tracked too? Also no word on the cost of treatment or insurance coverage. I am being cynical but sounds like more of the same to me. Time will tell.
Photo credit: Bruce Blaus Blausen.com staff (2014). "Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014". WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436.
Comments