Leqembi: hope in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease

Who is this new treatment intended for?

Unfortunately not for all patients, it will only be prescribed to people at the beginning of the disease, diagnosed early. Patients with a certain gene will also be excluded due to significant side effects: microhemorrhages and edema in the brain, fatal in certain rare cases. The administration of Leqembi will be closely monitored, including regular MRIs of the patients’ brains.

Lequembi is hope for patients, but also for research. “Treating these patients with this new drug will open very doors to research” underlines Jean-Luc Angelis. For the detractors of this treatment, given the gain provided, it would nevertheless involve too many risks. The European Medicines Agency initially ruled out Leqembi last summer, but finally decided to authorize it last week.

The question of reimbursement

Many doctors and patient associations point out in particular the inequality of access to care with countries authorizing it. Before seeing him arrive in France. We will now have to wait for the green light from the High Authority of Health seized on Leqembi. The question of reimbursement is raised according to a study published in 2023 by the Lancet Regional Health, at the price asked by Biogen/Eisai in the United States, Lequembe would represent, if given to all eligible patients, a cost of 133 billion euros in the EU.