The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare officially approved a new drug jointly developed by Japan and an American pharmaceutical company that directly acts on the causative agent of Alzheimer's disease on the 25th. It is expected to be used by patients as early as this year.
Recanemab, a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease, one of the causes of dementia, was approved by Japan pharmaceutical giant Eisai in collaboration with Biogen in the United States.
It is expected to remove an abnormal protein called "amyloid β" that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients, and suppress the progression of symptoms.
Eisai applied for approval to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and after its use was approved at the expert committee held in August, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare officially approved it on the 1th.
This is the first time that a drug to directly act on and eliminate the causative agent of Alzheimer's disease has been approved in Japan.
The drug is used for people with "mild cognitive impairment" before the onset of dementia and people who are in the early stages after the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
And the price of the drug is set at an average of $8,25 per person per year in the United States, where it has already been approved, but it has not yet been decided in Japan.
In the future, the Chuikyo = Central Social Insurance Medical Council will reach a conclusion on the application and price of public medical insurance, and it is expected that it will be used for patients as early as this year.