Why a new Alzheimer’s drug is having a slow debut

The first drug to show that it slows Alzheimer’s is on sale, but treatment for most patients is still several months away.

Two big factors behind the slow debut, experts say, are scant insurance coverage and a long setup time needed by many health systems.

Patients who surmount those challenges will step to the head of the line for a drug that delivers an uncertain benefit. Here’s a closer look. whether a patient has mild dementia.

Then the doctor has to decide what caused the condition. It could stem from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, a stroke or a brain injury.

If it’s related to Alzheimer’s disease, doctors must determine whether the patient’s brain has an amyloid protein.

The new drug aims to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s by removing that protein.

After all that, some doctors may hesitate to prescribe Leqembi because they don’t have a good idea yet for how the drug will help the patient or affect their everyday life, Kremen said.

They have to consider that uncertainty against the brain swelling and bleeding that can develop in patients taking it.

“I think this benefit versus harm issue is going to weigh heavily,” she said. approved the drug.

This planning might include training nurses on how to give the drug and making sure prescribing doctors know how to recognize candidates for it.

Care providers also need a plan for how patients will be monitored once they start taking it.

Patients need repeated brain scans to check for side effects.

Doctors may want to know that such a plan is in place before they feel comfortable writing a prescription, Kremen noted.

Hospital systems also will have to figure out how many patients might come to them for this drug and be able to cover all the costs tied to it.

Those might include clinic, nursing, radiologist and pharmacy fees.

“Frankly, the hospital systems are going to have to decide if they want to offer it,” Kremen said. “Is it worth the cost?”

Eisai estimates that about 100,000 people will be diagnosed and eligible to receive Leqembi in the United States by 2026.

Representatives of the drugmaker declined to estimate how many people might receive it this year.