This is a new drug that will be marketed under the name of Leqembi.
The United States has approved a new drug intended to reduce cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s neurodegenerative disease.
The new drug, which will be marketed under the name Leqembi, is recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for patients who have not yet reached an advanced stage of the disease.
Leqembi attacks deposits of a protein called beta-amyloid. Patients present with amyloid plaques in the brain, which form around neurons and eventually destroy them. This is what causes the memory loss characteristic of the disease.
The FDA approval is based on clinical trial results that showed the drug helped reduce amyloid plaques.
This is the second treatment for Alzheimer’s recently approved by the FDA, after Aduhelm in June 2021, a treatment that was not as successful as expected.