Adapted from an article of the same name in the September 2024 AARP Bulletin
Another drug has joined the arsenal of Alzheimer’s treatments. The Food and Drug Administration approved a medication brand-named Kisunla after it proved effective in clinical trials when used by people in the early stages of the disease.
“The trial data demonstrated, convincingly, that Kisunla reduces the rate of cognitive and functional decline in patients in the mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia states of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Teresa Buracchio, a director in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a statement.
Donanemab, Kisunla’s medical name, joins similar drug Lecanemab (Leqembi) as sanctioned treatments for the disease that afflicts nearly 7 million older Americans. One difference: Kisunla is given by intravenous infusion once a month. Leqembi has a twice a month regimen.
Related: Emergency Preparedness: Ways to Help Loved Ones with Dementia
Researchers found that the medication was especially effective in slowing the loss of thinking and memory skills in people in the earliest stages of the disease. Kisunla helped to remove a protein called amyloid from the brain. In people with the disease, amyloid forms sticky plaques that disrupt normal cell function.
Jagan Pillai, MD, an Alzheimer’s researcher at the Cleveland Clinic, called Kisunla’s approval “a huge impetus to the field… mostly because it gives [patients] a range of therapeutic options.”
Kisunla’s maker, Eli Lilly, priced the drug at $32,000 a year, higher than Leqembi’s $26,500 annual list price. Out-of-pocket expenses will depend on insurance. Medicare will cover FDA approved Alzheimer’s treatments for some patients who work with a health care provider who participates in a registry to collect information on the medication.
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