Clinical trials of lecanemab, a new Alzheimer's drug, showed positive results for treating the disease. It is estimated that about 47 million people in the world suffer from Alzheimer's disease.
According to the report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, "Lecanemab reduced markers of amyloid in early Alzheimer’s disease and resulted in moderately less decline on measures of cognition and function than placebo at 18 months but was associated with adverse events." Amyloid is an abnormal protein that is produced in the bone marrow and can be deposited in any tissue or organ and can cause the organ to become stiff and not function as it should.
In September, the pharmaceutical company Eisai and Biogen stated that trials in 1,795 patients yielded positive results:
Ltd. and Biogen Inc. announced positive topline results from Eisai’s large global Phase 3 confirmatory Clarity AD clinical trial of lecanemab, an investigational anti-amyloid beta protofibril antibody for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild AD (collectively known as early AD) with confirmed presence of amyloid pathology in the brain.
Everything seems to indicate that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will grant "accelerated approval" of the drug by January 6, 2023, a process that allows the legalization of a drug, in the trial phase, for a serious disease with few treatments.
Investigation into whether it was involved in the death of two patients
A woman with early-stage Alzheimer's disease who was receiving lecanemab treatment recently died of a brain hemorrhage. After suffering a stroke, doctors at Northwestern University Medical Center in Chicago gave her a clot-busting drug. Shortly thereafter, the woman suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in the entire outer layer of the brain and died days later. According to some researchers, her death is related to the effects of lecanemab.
Previously, another patient on lecanemab treatment died under similar circumstances, He was taking blood thinners and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.
These two events could hinder the market launch of lecanemab, which would block its use for patients taking blood thinners.
