The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted approval to Lecanemab, the first Alzheimer’s disease treatment to win approval since the largely failed rollout of Aduhelm two years ago. Sold under the brand name Leqembi, the new drug shows promise, but experts say making the treatment available to patients at academic medical centers like Cedars-Sinai will take time.
“The clinical data on Leqembi is solid and shows moderately less decline for those participants who received the drug compared to those who did not in the Phase III study,” said Sarah Kremen, MD, who leads the Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trial Program at Cedars-Sinai. “But before making this treatment available to patients, we have to take steps to ensure that we’re giving the drug as safely as possible to patients who will face the least risk and receive the greatest benefit—a critical process that takes time.”
Kremen, director of the Neurobehavior Program in the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders, sat down with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom to explain the risks and benefits of Leqembi and what interested patients can expect that process to include.
What did clinical trials show about Leqembi’s benefits?
The data showed that the treatment can pull amyloid—a protein that forms plaques and disrupts brain function—out of the brain in a significant way. Patients receiving Leqembi during clinical trials also showed slowing in decline on tests of memory and functional ability. Leqembi also seems to decrease accumulation of tau protein, which forms tangles inside neurons of Alzheimer’s patients, particularly in the memory centers of the brain. It’s important to recognize that while these results are exciting, this medication does not reverse cognitive decline, it only slows it down.
Wellness Secrets of a SuperAger 
“Risks include brain bleeding and brain swelling”
Serious side effects.
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Indeed. I think the same thing every time I see an ad for a drug on TV.
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For anyone reading, I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Type 3 at age 32 via NeruoQuant MRI. After reading Dr. Dayan Goodenowe’s Breaking Alzheimer’s, I procured a plasmalogen test (levels of an 83-year-old), and began supplementing with plasmalogens form Prodrome Science. After nearly two years of high-dose plasmalogen supplementation, my brain inflammation and atrophy has largely been reversed. It’s a novel treatment, but non-invasive. Here’s one study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33132773/
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Wow. Thanks for sharing and congrats on apparently beating Alzheimer’s’. You are one of the few.
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