This Alzheimer's drug finally approved but only for certain patients

This is another step forward in the fight against Alzheimer's disease. However, the side effects of this medication do not allow all people affected to benefit from the treatment.

Alzheimer's disease causes cognitive decline in people affected. This involves memory loss and dementia in the long term. The origin of this disease is still unknown, but the study of the brains of people affected has made it possible to develop a treatment that could slow the progression of the disease. A medication has finally emerged from the research laboratories: Leqembi. This has finally been authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Thursday, November 14, reports Libération.

This medicine helps reduce the appearance of amyloid plaques, which form around neurons and eventually destroy them. It is therefore only recommended for people who are not at an advanced stage of the disease. This treatment also has side effects that can be serious, such as bleeding in the brain. This is why the EMA had not yet authorized the use of this medicine. But “a review concluded that the benefits outweigh the risks in a limited population of patients”. People at risk of brain haemorrhage are therefore not eligible for the treatment, which must be given intravenously once every two weeks.

The drug is already authorised in several countries

Leqembi has been developed by the Japanese pharmaceutical laboratory Eisai in collaboration with the American manufacturer Biogen. It was authorized in 2023 in the United States with restrictions similar to those given by the EMA. It has been authorized in Japan, China, Canada and Great Britain since last August. Its price has been set by the Japanese laboratory at 26,500 US dollars (USD) per year.