EUROPE has rejected a breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug in a blow to NHS hopes. Lecanemab is one of the first medicines ever proven to destroy toxic amyloid proteins that build up in patients’ brains in early stages of the disease. The European Medicines Agency ruled on Friday that the risk of serious or even fatal side effects is too great for it to be used.
Clinical trials saw the drug hailed a game-changer as it slowed brain damage by up to a third, but patients were in danger of stroke, brain swelling or shrinking, or death. The EMA’s medicines committee said: “The observed effect of Leqembi on delaying cognitive decline does not counterbalance the risk of serious side events associated with the medicine.” It recommended the drug should not be licensed, meaning European health services will not use it.
Europe tends to view the glass as half-empty The decision splits off from the USA, which approved the drug last year and already prescribes it. It casts doubt over hopes that Britain will wave through the medication for NHS use when our regulator decides later this year. Last time Europe and the USA were divided on an Alzheimer’s drug – a similar one called aducanumab, in 2021 – the UK sided with Europe and never used it.
Professor Bart de Strooper, of the UK Dementia Research Institute, said today: “This is an unfortunate yet not unexpected decision. Most read in Health “While countries such as the USA, China, and Japan see the glass as half-full, Europe te.