A new study showed that the drug “Likanimab” for Alzheimer’s treatment is very safe, outside the conditions of clinical trials, especially when it is used in the very early stages of the disease.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed to use treatment a year ago, but it sparked a lot of controversy due to its side effects.
The study, published in the journal “The American Medical Association for Neuroscience”, relied on reviewing the data of 234 patients who received the “Likanimab” treatment at the memory diagnostic center of the Faculty of Medicine at Washington University in Saint -Lewis.
She indicated that the severe side effects were rare and medical management, as the cases that required hospitalization did not exceed only 1%.
Alzheimer’s treatment
Likanimab is the first treatment of its kind to show the ability to slow the development of Alzheimer’s by targeting amyloid plaques in the brain.
According to the researchers, people who were in a very early stage of the disease – suffering from very mild symptoms – were the least exposed to complications, as 1.8% of this category suffered from side effects, compared to 27% of patients in the next stage of the disease.
The author, Parra Joy Sinider, Professor of Neurological Medicine, said that fear of complications – such as swelling or cerebral bleeding associated with what is known as “millicide -associated muds” – may push some to delay treatment, which increases the possibility of these complications later.
She emphasized that the study shows the ability of specialized outpatient clinics to deal with these effects efficiently, which paves the way for the expansion of the use of treatment in other centers.
“Reassuring results”
The “Likanimab” treatment is given in the form of intravenous injection every two weeks, and patients are undergoing regular brain imaging checks to monitor any changes. In rare cases, the dose is suspended or steroidal therapy is performed when severe symptoms appear.
According to the study, no deaths were recorded among patients who received treatment in the center, and most of the cases in which side effects emerged were recovered within months.
For its part, the author, Susan Shendler, said, “Most patients respond to the drug well. The results are reassuring, and help to reformulate the dialogue between doctors and patients on the benefits and risks of treatment, especially in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, where the chances of success appear greater and the risks are less.”
Likanimab is a mono -tissible antibody, designed to target beta amyloid plaques in the brain, which is one of the main causes of the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
The monochrome antibody is a special type of antibodies, which is manufactured in the laboratory to target a specific substance in the body with great accuracy, such as a specific protein on the surface of a cell, virus, or beta-amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease, as in the case of “Likanimab”.
The word “unilateralistic” means that it is the result of one cell, or cloning from it, that is, it is a duplicate of one antibody, and that all the antibodies produced are identical to form and function, and target the exact same goal.
Clinical experiments showed that “Likanimab” succeeded in slowing the cognitive deterioration by 27% after 18 months of treatment, compared to patients who received a fake medicine.
This effect may seem slight on paper, but it means additional months of independence for the injured, before they need daily care, which is an important gain in the context of an irreplaceable disease.
Likanimab is used only in early cases of Alzheimer’s, that is, for those who suffer from simple cognitive impairment, or light dementia, not for medium or advanced conditions.
It is also required that the patient have a certain accumulation of amyloid protein, and this can be verified through advanced tests such as MRI, or cerebrospinal fluid tests.
Side effects
Despite the effectiveness of the relative medication, the side effects cannot be ignored, and the most dangerous of which is known as the changes associated with amydid in brain images, which include a slight swelling or bleeding in the brain.
In most cases, symptoms do not appear on the patient, and changes are discovered only in routine graphic tests, but in rare cases, the patient may suffer from headache, dizziness, nausea, or even seizures.
The data of the third stage experience showed that 12.6% of patients were injured in this condition, but the serious symptoms were very rare (about 2.8%), and the percentage of deaths directly related to the drug was only 0.2%.
The price of the drug “Likanimab” is the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration in 2023, first via the accelerated path, then with traditional approval later.
It was also approved by countries such as Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Britain, while Australia rejected it in principle, before confirming its final rejection in March 2025.
In Europe, the approval came after a controversy over the effectiveness against the risks, and the use was restricted based on the patient’s genetic analysis.
The annual treatment price is Bleakimab 26500 dollars, which sparked criticism about the “value of the drug for its price”. Some parties see that the fair price should range between 8900 and 21,500 dollars.
The producing company estimates that about 85% of American patients who are qualified for treatment are covered by insurance, which may reduce the financial burden on individuals, but it put pressure on the budgets of the public health sector.
