Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - Local leaders in the fight against Alzheimer's disease are encourage after Eli Lilly says results from phase 3 trial of a drug to treat the early symptomatic form of the disease turned out to be very encouraging.
The Alzheimer's Association, however, says it's concerned about a possible lack of access down the road.
Lauren Ashburn with the Alzheimer's Association of WNY says the clinical trial of donanemab met its primary endpoints. "The most encouraging and exciting piece of this information is that they report nearly half of the participants on donanamab had no clinical progression of the disease for one year," says Ashburn.
Ashburn says the drug proved helpful in containing the progression of the disease in general. "This trial showed that in half of the participants, they had no progression over a year," explains Ashburn. She notes people who completed the medication for a year to 18 months, saw that this benefit actually continued while not even taking the medication. "Not only can it stop the progression, or slow the progression for many of the other participants in the trial, you also may not have to take this medication for the rest of your life, it could just be a potential treatment for a year to 18 months. And then they can significantly change the course of the disease in that time," notes Ashburn.
Ashburn says patients have to have a diagnosis for donanemab to be effective. "The people that have been benefiting from this in the trial are those that are diagnosed in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, or those living with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease," notes Ashburn.
But there is one overlying concern for Ashburn about similar treatments, as CMS has been denying access to FDA approved Alzheimer's treatments for those on Medicare or Medicaid since April of 2022. "There are two other treatments that are on the market that are not available to people unless you can pay the $26,000 that it costs to get this treatment out of pocket, or you have to be in a clinical trial. And those are not offered all over the place, so access is extremely limited. We're hoping that CMS reverses this national coverage determination. And that's what our association is really pushing for," says Ashburn. She believes it's a case of disease discrimination as CMS does not block access to any other treatments that are FDA approved.
Full approval could come later this year.
