Alzheimer’s Treatment Expected to Become Available in the Coming Months

The groundbreaking Alzheimer’s treatment drug, Leqembi, is expected to become available at several major U.S. health care systems soon.

Leqembi, which is produced by the Japanese drugmaker Eisai and Massachusetts-based Biogen, was fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month. The drug is administered by infusion every two weeks.

Leqembi works by clearing a sticky brain plaque linked to the disease. Dr. Sharon Cohen, a behavioral neurologist and clinical trial investigator for the Clarity AD study, told Fox Business that this is the first time the FDA has approved a drug that will “slow down the clinical aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, meaning people will lose memory at a slower rate and lose their functional abilities at a slower rate.”

According to Fox Business, Northwestern medicine will start rolling out the treatment to qualifying patients at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Also, the Cleveland Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health’s locations in Cleveland and Las Vegas will start administering treatment to qualifying patients in the next few months.