other pharmaceutical companies have submitted approval to health canada for two new drugs, lecanemab (marketed as leqembi), approved in the u.s. this summer, and donanemab, to be approved in the u.s. later this year. no drugs, unfortunately, reverse or stop the progression of dementia, they can only slow it.
should canada approve the two new drugs, navigating the infrastructure so patients can access them will still be challenging, according to dr. heather cooke, manager of research and knowledge mobilization at the alzheimer society of b.c. and adjunct professor in sfu’s department of gerontology and ubc’s school of nursing.
“for them to be effective, we need to know that an individual actually has amyloid plaques in their brain,” she says. “so how do you determine that? you do a pet scan, which costs about $5,000 and is not covered. no province reimburses pet scans as part of routine care.”
then there is the challenge of administering those drugs: lecanemab requires a one-hour iv infusion every two weeks, donanemab and aducanumab once every four weeks. the canadian healthcare system simply doesn’t have the capacity or infrastructure to accommodate that.
as for his thoughts on the two new drugs under review, lecanemab and donanemab, weaver, who is also a research leader in drug design and has designed and co-developed two drugs that have reached phase iii human trials and has four others in preclinical development, says they’re a step in the right direction but not nearly a big enough step.
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