UK health regulator rejects lecanemab as Alzheimer's therapy

The UK's health regulator has rejected a drug that can slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, saying its benefits are too small to justify the costs of the therapy and close monitoring of patients for signs of "serious side-effects".

- Andrew Gregory, Emily Dugan

Lecanemab, which is given twice a month, removes sticky clumps of the protein amyloid beta from the brain, believed to be a hallmark of the disease. The drug is not a cure.

But in clinical trials, the therapy slowed cognitive decline by 27% in early Alzheimer's patients, compared with a placebo.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK's drugs regulator, gave the green light to the drug yesterday. However, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), the health regulator, simultaneously ruled out offering the drug on the NHS. It comes weeks after the EU's drugs regulator also rejected the drug, saying the risk of serious brain swelling did not outweigh its small impact on slowing cognitive decline. It also said the effects of the drug on delaying cognitive decline were small.