FDA approves new Alzheimer’s drug, UK doctor says it’s ‘just the beginning’

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — The Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval to Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi.

It’s a landmark decision for the first medicine proven to slow the course of the memory-robbing disease.

Full approval prompts the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to change how it covers the drug — broadening access for up to about a million people with early-onset Alzheimer’s.

The University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging has been a site for clinical trials involving this drug for several years and continues to conduct trials focused on the treatment.

The center calls it “just the beginning.”

“I suspect in the next decade or two Alzheimer’s will become a thing of the past if we can get everybody educated on it, get early detection and early intervention. But it’s not gonna happen overnight,” said Dr. Gregory Jicha.

Leqembi got accelerated approval in January, but it hasn’t been widely used because of an earlier coverage decision by CMS, which provides insurance for many elderly Alzheimer’s patients through Medicare.

Without insurance, it costs more than $26,000 a year.