The cost of a new wave of drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease may be too prohibitive for many people living with the disease, says an expert.
The new immunotherapeutic medications – Lecanemab and Donanemab – are the first disease-modifying treatments that can potentially delay and slow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease.
However, the drugs are extremely expensive – a course of Lecanemab costs about $40,000 per annum – the recommended treatment period is 18 months.
While clinician and researcher Dr Tom Russ has hopes the new suite of medicines – the first in 20 years – will usher in “a very positive period” in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, he said: “But, equally, it’s just not fair if a tiny fraction of people living with dementia get some shiny new treatment and everybody else gets nothing.”
Dr Russ – director of Alzheimer Scotland Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh and a keynote speaker at the International Dementia Conference in Sydney in September – added: “What I think would be fairer is that everybody gets an enhanced degree of support after a dementia diagnosis.”
In Australia, Lecanemab awaits approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration and then listing on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. It’s expected TGA approval and PBS listing of Donanemab will follow soon after.
As well as the eye-watering price of treatment, both drugs need to be administered by infusions in hospital settings and require costly clinical monitoring, including brain scans throughout the treatment period.
“We can’t give that treatment to everybody because that amount of money doesn’t exist in Britain’s health system, or in Australia’s,” Dr Russ said.
Furthermore, only an estimated 5-10 per cent of people living with dementia will be suitable for the new treatments. Alzheimer’s accounts for around 70 per cent of dementia diagnoses, but the new drugs may be less effective at later stages of the disease or when people have other health conditions, and there are side-effects and allergic reactions.
During his conference address, Dr Russ will share his thoughts on the new drugs and discuss promising approaches and treatment for the various forms of dementia and how they may evolve in coming decades.
But while developing disease-modifying drugs of the future is important, Dr Russ said: “We need more assistance for existing dementia services to diagnose, treat and support people who are currently presenting.”
Follow Community Care Review on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and sign up to our newsletter.
