Lecanemab

Welcome to the forum. There are a few other threads about this drug -also known by its brand name leqembi. You can search for those discussions. It's an expensive drug and difficult to administer, given by IV infusion every two weeks. Significant and serious side effects including brain bleeds, one has to be able to tolerate MRI scans to monitor for this. It seems to work better in younger Caucasian men than in women, people of color, or the elderly. But the upside is that it slows progression of the disease symptoms-by about 30% in the studies. Best results when used in very early disease.

Hope that helps.

I to would agree (not to pursue this) with APOE4/APOE4, as that is the group likeliest to have side affects such as brain bleeds.

With DB he is APOE3/APOE3 etc as mentioned above. One thing I have found worth pondering, is there is a medication under study in pill form that is similar to the infusions. I don't know if I read this on site or elsewhere, but I had read it's approval should be up for review around the end of this year. It seems less costs are likely if it is in pill form. (Our area has many medical centers within a short drive so getting back and forth to an infusion center just wouldn't even make it to my list of pros and cons.) I've mentioned my pros and cons elsewhere. Another pro to ponder is the hope that if this gets slowed down, are there other promising treatments in the future, and would this extend his potential to benefit from them. We'll know more soon. The PET is at the end of this week, and discussion with the neurologist next week. We'll also get a second opinion from the VA neurologist. I'll post back after gathering that input.

Thanks. I'm glad you have the new grand to look forward to. Finally spoke to the right VA person to reschedule the consult. When he had to redo the PET scan it conflicted with the standing VA appt. Finally got it scheduled and early Oct. Is the best they could offer. Spent the morning with DB and SIL. We talked about the the private neurologist appt being next week to review his results. We discussed if this dr felt strongly he was a good candidate would he make the decision without waiting on the second opinion. He said it's only a six week wait and he thought that was reasonable to get the second opinion before deciding.

My husband finished his 16th infusion yesterday. Is it making a difference? I don't know. His Neurologist thinks it is and my husband thinks it is, but I don't know. I know he is not supposed to be miraculously "normal", but I can't determine if it is helping or not without something to measure it by as if he weren't having the infusions. It is the same as it was before electing to have the infusions. So, maybe that is the plus. He is not yet started a significant noticeable decline. Don't get me wrong, everyday is still frustrating to some extent and he is unable to do anything on his own 100% except for ADLs. A change in his ADHD medicine made a difference….. for about a month….now that once alertness seems to have vanished. Regarding the other cons - taking him to the infusion center every two weeks is not an issue and he has no evidence of brain bleed according to the 4 MRIs he has had.

Someone close to us has been undergoing treatment for about 6 months without any problems so far. They are still traveling and leading what seems to me to be a normal life. He still has early Alzheimer’s but is doing well with the infusions. I haven’t seen him since the infusions started but according to his wife he is doing well. They just have to home in time for infusions and any scans or tests. The hope is that it will delay the symptoms enough that new drugs will become available that he would be able to take advantage of.