YORK, Pa. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the second-ever drug in a new class of medications designed to treat Alzheimer's disease.
Katelyn Montanez's father was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's ten years ago, when he was just 53 years old.
"He was a loving person and a fun happy person and now he's just like there and exists, and it's really hard to watch someone deteriorate," Montanez said. "My dad is one of seven siblings and five out of the siblings have the disease. It's really a hard disease, and it's hard when it impacts so many relatives in my family."
Several of them already lost their battle and perhaps could have been helped by the new FDA-approved drug Lecanemab, sold under the brand name Leqembi.
"It is potentially the first commercially available treatment for Alzheimer's disease that we've seen," said Clay Jacobs with the Alzheimer's Association Greater Pennsylvania Chapter.
The drug changes the course of the disease by slowing its progression at the early stages, giving families more time. While Jacobs says that's very positive news, the problem now is access, due to cost.
"The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for the first time ever are not covering an FDA-approved medication—unless the patient is enrolled in a clinical trial," Jacobs said.
Without coverage, a year's course of Lecanemab will cost an estimated $26,000 per year, which works out to more than $2,000 a month. That makes it unaffordable for many people, including Montanez's family.
"I think the medication should be across all socioeconomic statuses and it's really important too, from personal experiences, it was really difficult to gain really anything, even resources," Montanez said.
The Alzheimer's Association has submitted a formal request asking the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to remove the requirement that Medicare beneficiaries must be enrolled in a clinical trial in order to get coverage of this new FDA-approved medication.