Canada’s Drug Agency recommends funding drug for early-stage Alzheimer’s disease
The committee said patients must meet strict eligibility rules and undergo regular MRI scans as it weighs safety, benefit and pricing.
- On Thursday, Canada's Drug Agency recommended that public drug plans cover lecanemab for early-stage Alzheimer's disease, reversing its February position against public funding.
- After Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd. requested reconsideration, the Canadian Drug Expert Committee found it may have underestimated lecanemab's clinical meaningfulness and received new information to address an important clear gap in evidence.
- Lecanemab is an antibody targeting amyloid plaque buildup in the brain, administered intravenously every two or four weeks to patients 50 and older with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia, requiring regular MRI monitoring for brain swelling or microbleeding.
- If finalized, the recommendation will trigger price negotiations with the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance, though the committee noted pricing must be significantly reduced; coverage continues after six months and every 12 months thereafter if clinical benefit persists.
- An estimated 772,000 Canadians have dementia, projected to more than double by 2050; Alzheimer's societies say lecanemab costing about $32,000 annually extends quality cognitive function, while Health Canada approved donanemab in May with unclear public coverage prospects.
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It has been shown to reduce the risk of progression to the next clinical stage by 38% and the risk of progression to moderate dementia by 48%.
Patients report that "the Government of Spain and the communities condemn these patients to abandonment"
The Spanish Confederation of Alzheimer's and Other Dementia (CEAFA), denounces as unjustifiable the decision of the Interministerial Commission on Drug Prices (CIPM) to reject, once again, the financing of the first and only treatments capable of delaying the evolution of Alzheimer's disease. A decision that abandons thousands of patients. ... Continue reading "The government will not finance the only drug that stops the progression of Alzheimer…
The Inter-Ministerial Commission on Prices of Medicinal Products and Health Products has again rejected the funding of two medicines indicated for the treatment of...
The Canada Medicines Agency recommends that public drug plans take care of treatment that has been shown to be effective in slowing the progression of Alzheimer's disease at an early stage, if patients meet certain conditions.
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