Patient living with early stages of Alzheimer's Disease encouraged by new drug
MIAMI - The US Food and Drug Administration approved Leqembi, a new Alzheimer's drug that slows the course of the disease.
"I have the beginnings of Alzheimer's," said 56-year-old Sury Veliz. She's living with early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. "I noticed I was forgetting things and I was repeating things, the worst one was when I put the milk away in the microwave," she recalled.
Sury is in a blind study and does not know what medication she's on. She is encouraged by her progress. She's excited to hear about Leqembi and what it could mean. "It would be amazing if they could actually give people time and I'm not talking just the people with Alzheimer's, it also affects the families, children and grandchildren and friends and jobs. It affects everything," she said.
Dr. James Galvin with the UM Miller School of Medicine "I am very encouraged. I think this is a milestone for people living with Alzheimer's disease," he said. He explains the drug is given through an IV every two weeks. He said there's great potential. "This is not a cure, what it does is appear to modify the disease. So the disease moves much, much slower in people who were treated than people who were not treated," he said.
Cleveland Clinic Alzheimer expert Dr. Damon Salzman shares that optimism. "This is potentially a real game changer," he said.
But he points out patients need careful monitoring because of potential side effects. "One of these side effects is that there is the possibility of brain hemorrhage," he said. "The other possibility is this may cause some inflammation in the brain."
The drug comes with a $26,500 annual price tag. The question now is how much will insurance cover.