Blitz Bureau
The first drug found to slow down Alzheimer’s is to be given the green light for use in Britain.
Slows cognitive decline
Lecanemab, hailed by experts as “the beginning of the end” for the disease, has been found to slow cognitive decline by 27 per cent in sufferers. On August 22, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is expected to grant approval for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease, reported The Telegraph.
The ruling by the safety watchdog will mean it can be prescribed privately in Britain for the first time. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence will then advise on whether it should be rolled out by the NHS.
The drug, given every two weeks through an IV drip, is the first disease-modifying treatment to both slow cognitive decline and reduce the plaques associated with the disease.
Clinical trials found it slowed the decline in participants’ memory and functional thinking. The treatment was authorised by the US Food and Drug Administration last year.
Side effects risk
However, the European Medicines Agency has been far more cautious. Last month it rejected a licence for the drug, saying that potential side effects outweighed the benefits. The MHRA is expected to set out some exclusions to minimise the risk of side effects when it approves lecanemab.
They include patients with the APOE gene, carried by around one quarter of people. Those with the gene, which increases the risk of Alzheimer’s, have been found to have a greater risk of suffering amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (Aria), which are characterised by swelling and bleeding of the brain. Patients taking some types of blood-thinning medication will also be excluded.
