VUB neurologist argues for affordability of new Alzheimer’s drug

The FDA, the American drug watchdog, has recently approved a promising Alzheimer’s treatment for reimbursement. This is a game changer for patients: Lecanemab is the first drug that can slow the evolution of the condition. However, its current price in the US is up to €24,700 a year. In the EU too, the cost could be high. "We run the risk of a two-track policy: the patients that can afford it will be able to pay for treatment, and the others won’t," says Prof Sebastiaan Engelborghs, head of Neurology at UZ Brussel and board member of the European Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium (EADC).

According to Engelborghs and his colleagues in the EADC, Lecanemab can make a difference for millions of Alzheimer’s patients in the EU. ...