Health Canada has authorized a drug that has been shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
Lecanemab is the first drug approved in Canada that targets the buildup of amyloid plaque in the brain, which is believed to be an underlying cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
The drug is a laboratory-made antibody that binds to amyloid proteins and helps neutralize and eliminate them from the brain.
Lecanemab should be administered in the early stages of dementia when there is mild cognitive impairment.
Adam Morrison, spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Society of Ontario, says patients and their families have been anxiously awaiting the approval of lecanemab, also known by its brand name Leqembi, in Canada.
The Fédération québécoise des Sociétés Alzheimer has launched a bilingual website to help identify the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
Morrison said Alzheimer’s societies are urging the Canadian Medicines Agency and provincial governments to quickly bring the drug to market and publicly fund it so all eligible patients can afford it, noting that it costs about $26,000 a year in other countries.
Lecanemab is a treatment, not a cure, that must be given intravenously every two weeks, Morrison said.
MRIs needed to detect side effects
“What we hear from our customers is that ‘this sounds like a medication that can give me more time. This can give me more time with my family,’ and that’s a really important piece that we’ve heard a lot about,” he said.
Lecanemab is approved in about 50 countries, a news release from manufacturer Eisai Co., Ltd. said Monday.
It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2023.
Lecanemab was tested in a global Phase 3 clinical trial, Eisai said in the statement, noting that it would continue to “present clinical evaluation data captured from participants in real-world clinical practice.”
Possible side effects of lecanemab include swelling or bleeding in the brain, although in most cases they are visible on MRIs but do not cause any symptoms, said Dr. Andrew Frank, a cognitive neurologist and medical director of the Bruyere Memory Program in Ottawa.
“This is probably because the antibodies react with the amyloid and as the amyloid protein is cleared, there can be inflammation that can lead to inflammation in the brain and/or bleeding in the brain,” Frank said in an interview with The Canadian Press last year while awaiting approval of lecanemab.
Frank, who has been a consultant for Eisai Canada, said symptoms can include headache, dizziness or lightheadedness, but in rare cases they can also include serious conditions such as seizures or stroke-like symptoms.
Less than 1 percent of clinical trial participants had “persistent or possibly permanent symptoms or side effects” once the drug was stopped, he said.
“I support making these medications accessible to Canadians so they can make a risk-benefit decision with themselves, with their families and with their doctors to decide whether or not the benefit of slowing the disease outweighs the risk of those serious side effects,” Frank said.
The Canadian Press health coverage is supported through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
