2023-07-06 17:10:00
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the company responsible for regulating medicines, has the possibility of approving the circulation, this Thursday (6), of the first effective drug against Alzheimer’s. The drug lecanemab, which will be sold under the name Leqembi, caused a 27% reduction in the rate of cognitive decline in people with early stages of Alzheimer’s. The remedy was developed by a partnership between Eisa, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, and Biogen, an American company.
The difference to other forms of treatment is that Leqembi acts particularly on the cause and is responsible for slowing down cognitive decline. The medicine does not act as a cure for the disease, but it does slow down the development of the disease. The form of application consists of using a needle directly into the vein every 14 days.
The drug already received approval at the beginning of the year, in January 2023, after seeing the benefits in people with the disease at an early stage. However, American health plans requested a reassessment in order to prepare themselves financially to carry out the distribution of the drug to the members of their plans.
The price of the drug in the amount needed for its annual use should be US$26,500, which is equivalent to R$130,645 at the exchange rate on Thursday (6), with the dollar at 4.93 Brazilian real.
Commentary: A new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, lecanemab, will likely receive traditional FDA approval on Thursday.
Unfortunately, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is closing the door to ready access to this new treatment. https://t.co/DT55VkerBw
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) July 6, 2023
Lecanemab drug. (Reproduction/Twitter/@chicagotribune)
Sintomas do Alzheimer
Among the main symptoms of Alzheimer’s, memory loss is the main sign. Other indications such as uncertainty about people and the environment, obstacles to carrying out tasks that were previously easy to accomplish, changes in mood or personality, distancing from close people and difficulties with understanding images and written and spoken communication, act as manifestations for seek medical help.
How does the drug work against Alzheimer’s?
Leqembi is exclusively available to people with newly recognized disease.
People in the early stages of Alzheimer’s with large numbers of healthy amyloid proteins in the brain, not yet destroyed with the onset of the disease, rely on the drug to preserve these proteins for a longer time.
The medicine has dangerous reactions. Approximately 13% of participants in the final stages of drug analysis dealt with unanticipated brain enlargement.
Featured photo: Alzheimer’s. Playback/Twitter/@itstonybennett
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