‘A drug that would allow them to have more time with their family’: Many hopeful after FDA grants full approval of new Alzheimer’s treatment drug

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Millions of Americans are hopeful after the FDA granted full approval of a new drug—Leqembi—to treat patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.

“It also makes me hopeful that we will see a new treatment, an end, and eventually a cure for Alzheimer’s disease,” Lisa Roberts with the Alzheimer’s Association said.

She says this is a big step towards increasing the quality of life for someone with the disease.

“You think about the impact of a drug that would allow them to have more time with their family, more time recognizing their kids, their grandkids, their spouses, their, you know, friends, and being able to participate and make decisions in their daily life. And in the past, we had a drug treatment that only treated the symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, and to have two new treatments that treat the underlying biology of the disease, getting to the root cause a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, that is a game changer,” Roberts added.

While many people are looking on the bright side in this situation, Roberts says some barriers would possibly prevent some patients from getting this drug for treatment.

“You know, there’s obviously the cost, which we know is if you had to pay out of pocket is upwards of $26,000 a year which may be a financial barrier for those who don’t have insurance,” Roberts said. “I mean, there are concerns with any drug, but the research for the Alzheimer’s Association is going to continue.”

Of course, saving a life or improving one is priceless. That’s what Roberts says is the goal of the drug and continued research into helping those with dementia.

“It’s so personal to many of us, I lost my mom to Alzheimer’s related disorder,” Roberts said. “Because when we were going through this, you know, 15 years ago with my mom, there was no hope. I’m personally seeing these milestones of things that people told me years ago, and I’m seeing it progress. So, it makes me a little emotional. I mean, we’d love to all be out of jobs because we no longer have this disease in the world. But until then we’re just going to keep researching, we’re going to keep doing what we need to do. It is really exciting and hopeful that there are two new treatments just out, you know, within a year because we went 19 years before getting a new treatment. So this is the era of treatment. And that’s what makes it so hopeful.”

If you need help, you can reach out to the Alzheimer’s Association. Click here or call 1-800-272-3900.

“We have a 24/7 helpline including holidays, including evenings, nights, weekends, because oftentimes with this disease, it’s very isolating, and it still has a stigma. And we want people to know that we are here both locally [and] nationally,” Roberts said.

Copyright 2023 WECT. All rights reserved.