The first drug fully approved by the FDA for Alzheimer’s has been on the market for 10 months. Now, researchers are looking at testing it to prevent Alzheimer's.
A shot that could one day prevent Alzheimer's disease — that’s the potential future for lecanemab, or Leqembi.
Drug manufacturer Eisai recently shared results that found a weekly dose of two injections works as well as getting the currently approved IV version of the drug.
"That's much easier than giving the IV infusions that we do now. So that gives me great hope that in the future we would be able to do this much easier for people, and people who don't have memory problems can give themselves shots at home eventually," said Dr. Reisa Sperling, the Alzheimer research and treatment director at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Eisai plans to ask the FDA for approval of the shot by March 2024. Leqembi is only approved for patients with early Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers are studying to see if the drug can prevent the disease.
"We hope [to] make breakthroughs in discoveries that change our ability to help people in their lives, prevent them from getting memory problems," said Joshua Grill, professor of neurobiology and behavior at the University of California, Irvine.
Researchers say they’re looking to recruit patients who are not experiencing symptoms, but may have a family history of Alzheimer's.
