STAT July 28, 2024
As more than 7,500 clinicians and researchers converge in Philadelphia for the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, a sharp division is emerging over new treatments for the disease that brings them together each year. This divide is over when to prescribe one of the newer drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Lecanemab (Leqembi) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2023 but received a negative recommendation by European Medicines Agency’s human medicine products committee last week. Donanemab (Kisunla) was approved by the FDA in July.
Both have critical health and financial implications that will affect the treatment of Alzheimer’s, but may also affect the diagnosis patients receive — depending on their neurologist’s stance.
At the heart of the...