The New Alzheimer’s Drug – Deborah Kan Summary

A new drug to help slow the rate of cognitive decline, Lecanemab, was announced this week by Biogen and Eisai.  I find it interesting the timing of this announcement a week after Biogen was fined $900 million for inappropriate payments to doctors to encourage them to prescribe the company’s multiple sclerosis drug.  

 

That aside, I have real concerns about Lecanemab.  It targets amyloid, but is this plaque responsible for Alzheimer’s disease? Deborah Kan, formerly with the Wall Street Journal, launched a project called Being Patient about Alzheimer’s related issues.  I thought she summarized the concern about Lecanemab well in this post:  https://www.beingpatient.com/alzheimers-drug-faq-what-is-lecanemab/