The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug that helps slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients.
The US agency’s approval of the drug Leqembi, also known as (lecanemab-irmb), comes a few days after a congressional report sharply criticized the agency for giving the green light to another drug to treat Alzheimer’s patients, Aduhelm, reports a local Arabic daily.
Preliminary data from the Leqembe trial, published in September, showed that the drug slowed cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients by 27 percent over 18 months.
The US Food and Drug Administration said Leqembe and Adohelm represent an important advancement in the ongoing battle to effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease.
The agency approved the two drugs in rapid procedures that allowed the regulating agency to expedite the approval of drugs to treat people with serious conditions amid an urgent medical need.