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Alzheimer's drug adoption in US slowed by doctors' skepticism
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/alzheimers-drug-adoption-us-slowed-by-doctors-skepticism-2024-04-23/Alzheimer's drug adoption in US slowed by doctors' skepticism
By Julie Steenhuysen
April 23, 2024 9:03 AM EDT Updated 8 min ago
CHICAGO, April 23 (Reuters) - Nine months into the U.S. launch of the first drug proven to slow the advance of Alzheimer's, Eisai and Biogen's Leqembi is facing an unexpected hurdle to widespread use: an entrenched belief among some doctors that treating the memory-robbing disease is futile.
Alzheimer's experts had anticipated bottlenecks due to Leqembi's requirements, which include additional diagnostic tests, twice-monthly infusions and regular brain scans to guard against potentially lethal side effects.
And those issues have played a role in slow adoption since the drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to interviews with 20 neurologists and geriatricians from rural, urban, academic and community practices in 19 states.
In interviews with Reuters, seven doctors treating patients for Alzheimer's attributed their own reluctance to prescribe Leqembi to concerns about the drug's efficacy, cost and risks.
[...]
By Julie Steenhuysen
April 23, 2024 9:03 AM EDT Updated 8 min ago
CHICAGO, April 23 (Reuters) - Nine months into the U.S. launch of the first drug proven to slow the advance of Alzheimer's, Eisai and Biogen's Leqembi is facing an unexpected hurdle to widespread use: an entrenched belief among some doctors that treating the memory-robbing disease is futile.
Alzheimer's experts had anticipated bottlenecks due to Leqembi's requirements, which include additional diagnostic tests, twice-monthly infusions and regular brain scans to guard against potentially lethal side effects.
And those issues have played a role in slow adoption since the drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to interviews with 20 neurologists and geriatricians from rural, urban, academic and community practices in 19 states.
In interviews with Reuters, seven doctors treating patients for Alzheimer's attributed their own reluctance to prescribe Leqembi to concerns about the drug's efficacy, cost and risks.
[...]
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