UT Health San Antonio will soon start offering a new medication to Alzheimer’s patients with mild cognitive impairment.
Donanemab has received FDA approval and is only the second medication shown to delay cognitive decline in patients. The first is called lecanemab, sold as Leqembi, which was approved last year and is currently available to suitable UT Health San Antonio patients.
However, because donanemab is administered intravenously, it could be difficult for many to access, and — like Leqembi, which costs around $26,000 a year — it will be expensive. The drug's maker, Eli Lilly, says donanemab, which it will market as Kisunla, will cost more than $30,000 a year.
Sudha Seshadri, MD, director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio, says they are working to make medicines like these available to more people by enrolling them in clinical trials like AHEAD 3-45, in which researchers are trying to discern whether treating patients before dementia symptoms begin might prevent or postpone their onset.
Seshadri adds that while the development of these new treatments is encouraging, they only have a modest effect and potentially serious side effects, like brain swelling and bleeding. They are not suitable for all patients. Seshadri says researchers at UT Health San Antonio are conducting trials of other medicines and interventions that could be given in combination or instead of drugs like donanemab.
Despite those caveats, after years of limited progress on the treatment for dementia patients, Seshadri says this is a hopeful time for those worried about Alzheimer’s disease, as well as those at the forefront of research and care.
