Research team confirms safety of Alzheimer's drug Lecanemab

Lecanemab, developed by Eisai Co. and Biogen Inc. and put on sale in December 2023, removes amyloid beta from the brain to slow the progress of Alzheimer's disease.

The research team examined data on the health status of 2,672 patients 28 weeks after the start of the treatment that was collected by Eisai, a Japanese drugmaker, by early July last year.

About 60 pct of the patients, aged 76 on average, had symptoms of mild cognitive impairment, according to the researchers, including Atsushi Iwata of Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology.

The survey showed that while 7.1 pct of the patients experienced side effects such as small amounts of bleeding, serious side effects were observed in only 0.1 pct.

Some 17 pct of the patients had a fever or a headache but their conditions improved in a couple of days.

The survey found that 7.3 pct of the patients had discontinued the treatment as of 28 weeks.

Iwata said that the safety of Lecanemab was confirmed at actual clinical practices.

The team will conduct a follow-up survey of up to three years to examine the drug's effectiveness.