Research Team Confirms Safety of Alzheimer's Drug Lecanemab

Tokyo, March 25 (Jiji Press)--More than 90 pct of patients receiving Lecanemab, an Alzheimer's drug, in hospitals across Japan have been able to continue treatment without strong side effects, a group of researchers in the country said.

Lecanemab, developed by Eisai Co. and Biogen Inc. and put on sale in December 2023, removes amyloid beta from the brain to slow the progress of Alzheimer's disease.

The research team examined data on the health status of 2,672 patients 28 weeks after the start of the treatment that was collected by Eisai, a Japanese drugmaker, by early July last year.

About 60 pct of the patients, aged 76 on average, had symptoms of mild cognitive impairment, according to the researchers, including Atsushi Iwata of Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology.

The survey showed that while 7.1 pct of the patients experienced side effects such as small amounts of bleeding, serious side effects were observed in only 0.1 pct.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]