Drug that could slow early-stage Alzheimer’s disease has been approved by Health Canada
Health Canada has authorized a drug that slows the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
Lecanumab is the first drug approved in Canada that targets the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain, thought to be the underlying cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
This drug is a lab-made antibody that attaches to amyloid proteins and helps deactivate and clear them from the brain.
Lecanumab should be administered in the early stages of dementia when there is mild cognitive impairment.
Adam Morrison, a spokesman for the Alzheimer Society of Ontario, says patients and their families are anxiously awaiting approval of lecanumab – also known by its brand name Lecambi – in Canada.
The Fédération Québecois des Sociétés Alzheimers has launched a bilingual website to help identify the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
Morrison said the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada is urging the Canadian Drug Agency and provincial governments to bring the drug to market quickly and get it publicly funded so all eligible patients can take it, noting that in other countries it costs about US$26,000 a year.
Lecanumab is a treatment, not a cure, that needs to be administered intravenously every two weeks, Morrison said.
MRI scan needed to check side effects
“We hear from our customers that ‘This sounds like a drug that can give me more time. This can give me more time with my family,’ and that’s a really important thing we’re hearing a lot about,” he said.
A news release issued Monday from manufacturer Eisai Co. Ltd. said lecanimab has been approved in about 50 countries.
It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2023.
Lacanumab was tested in a global Phase 3 clinical trial, Isai said in the release, noting that it “will continue to present clinical evaluation data derived from participants in real-world clinical practice.”
Dr. Andrew Frank, a cognitive neurologist and medical director of the Bruyère Memory Program in Ottawa, said potential side effects of lecanumab include swelling or bleeding in the brain, although in most cases they show up on MRI scans but cause no symptoms.
“This is possible because the antibodies are reacting with the amyloid and as the amyloid protein is being cleared, it may cause inflammation to do so which may cause swelling in the brain and/or bleeding in the brain,” Frank said in an interview with The Canadian Press last year, while he was awaiting approval of lecanumab.
Frank, who has consulted for Christian Canada, said symptoms can include headaches, dizziness or lightheadedness, but in rare cases can also lead to serious conditions such as seizures or stroke.
He said less than one percent of clinical trial participants had “persistent or possibly permanent side effects or symptoms” after discontinuing the drug.
“I support access to these medicines for Canadians, so they can decide for themselves, their families and their physicians on the risk-benefit balance whether the benefit of slowing the disease outweighs the risk of those serious side effects,” Frank said.
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