A wonder drug that can slow Alzheimer’s disease is to be approved for use in Britain.
Lecanemab is the first treatment that has been shown to slow the disease, slowing cognitive decline by 27 percent.
Experts have called it “the beginning of the end” of the disease, which affects around 900,000 Britons.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is set to approve the drug for private prescription in the UK.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will then decide whether to roll out the treatment on the NHS.
Alzheimer’s disease affects 900,000 Britons (File image)
Lecanemab, sold under the brand name Leqembi, is a monoclonal antibody drug used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. The disease can cause anxiety, confusion and short-term memory loss.
The drug, which is administered every two weeks through an intravenous drip, was approved in the United States last year.
However, last month the European Medicines Agency refused to authorise the drug due to concerns about side effects such as “swelling” and “possible bleeding in the brain”.
Professor John Hardy, from the UCL Institute of Neurology, described the drug as “the biggest breakthrough in Alzheimer’s in decades”.
He had previously hailed the “revolutionary” treatment as the “beginning of the end” of Alzheimer’s.
However, Dr Max Pemberton noted in his Daily Mail column last week that lecanemab – as well as another Alzheimer’s drug, donanemab – “is likely to produce only a small improvement in symptoms”.
The drug was found to slightly improve cognition, but could have significant side effects, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (File image)
A scientist collects a sample used for research into Alzheimer’s disease.
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year found the drug slightly improved cognition but could have significant side effects.
An MHRA spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph: “We are currently completing a rigorous assessment of the evidence supporting lecanemab in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.”
They added that more information will be communicated “in due course”.