The first drug shown to slow Alzheimer’s disease hit the U.S. market over a year ago, but sales have lagged, major hospital systems have taken months to start using it and some insurers have rejected coverage.
The drug also can cause brain swelling and bleeding. Patients need regular brain scans to monitor for that. “It’s not like we are adding a drug to an existing system,” he said. “They are building the system for the drug.” Health systems are still trying to understand how coverage for the drug, its infusions and the needed scans works so patients don’t get stuck with bills. That’s a significant variable for a drug that can cost more than $26,000 a year.
“It was a little crazy,” he said. “It seemed like it was kind of a game that must make sense for some monetary reason.”Texas Neurology had 60 patients screened as possible candidates for Leqembi and on a waitlist when the drug launched last year. Only eight eventually started treatment. The rest either declined to take it or had advanced beyond the mild phase of the disease when they were rescreened, CEO David Evans said.
Charles “Bum” Clegg recently finished his 13th Leqembi infusion. The Salem, Alabama, resident visits a treatment center only 15 minutes from his home.“This drug gives you hope,” Carol said. Gastrointestinal cancers: After Kate Middleton's diagnosis, here's what abdominal symptoms you should look out forA recent study of US veterans found that 10% of those diagnosed with dementia actually had a liver condition called hepatic encephalopathy .Their parents died within hours of each other. Now N.S. sisters are warning about deadly form of strep