Alzheimer's patients and those who care for them now have hope when it comes to treatment in a way they have never had before. Earlier this month, the FDA gave approval to Leqembi, which has been shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer's by as much as 27 percent. While there is a lot of excitement around the research and advancements, some families impacted by the disease who have concerns.
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00:00 Alzheimer's patients and those who care for them now have hope when it comes to
00:04 a treatment in ways that they've never had before. Earlier this month the FDA
00:08 gave approval to a drug which has been shown to slow the progression of
00:12 Alzheimer's by as much as 27 percent. While there's a lot of excitement around
00:17 the researcher around the research and advancements, Scripps News' national
00:21 correspondent Chris Stewart spoke with families impacted by the disease who
00:25 have concerns. It's estimated more than 6.7 million Americans over the age of 65
00:32 have Alzheimer's. It's a disease that right now has no cure and it impacts
00:36 entire families. But there is hope with the development of new drugs that are
00:40 proving to slow the progression of Alzheimer's down. But at the same time
00:44 there are questions about whether those who are most at risk of developing
00:48 Alzheimer's will have fair access to this new medicine. I love this one, the
00:54 story behind it. We had a father-daughter night with my princess.
00:59 This is supposed to be for small kids. These pictures represent some of Sylvia
01:06 Waller's most cherished memories with her dad. So we get there and he said, "Why
01:12 are we the oldest here?" And I said, "Well it's a night with my princess." And I said,
01:18 "I'm still your princess." And he said, "Yeah." So that was the last night we danced.
01:24 Roughly two years after this night, Waller's father James passed away from
01:29 Alzheimer's in 2017. An only child, she took care of her dad until his death. It
01:35 was a tough one because the roles had changed. I was no longer his baby girl. I
01:41 was his caregiver. There was no approved Alzheimer's treatment for Waller's dad,
01:47 but she says the FDA approval of Lekembe offers hope. The treatment is a
01:52 twice-a-month IV infusion for patients who are in the early stages of the
01:56 disease that's been proven to slow Alzheimer's progression by as much as
02:00 27 percent. Waller does worry about access, especially to those in the black
02:06 community, which is twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's compared to those
02:10 who are white. Experts say health issues like higher rates of heart disease may
02:15 play a role, but research has yet to identify a cause. News is exciting that
02:21 we're now in a treatment phase and yay, but then there's a wah-wah-wah. A big
02:30 concern is the price. Medicare will cover most of Lekembe's cost of more than
02:35 $26,000 a year, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells me
02:40 patients will still likely have to pay 20 percent of the cost, which is more
02:44 than $5,000. Add that to the total out-of-pocket costs of caring for an
02:49 Alzheimer's patient. The Alzheimer's Association estimates it to be on
02:53 average more than $238,000 from diagnosis to death. The majority of the
02:59 people who have Alzheimer's are on Medicare and they're not the 10 percent
03:07 or the 1 percent, you know, who have money, have a great retirement fund. A lot of
03:14 tests are not available in Spanish, so a lot of my cognitive tests I have to pull
03:18 from Mexico or from Spain. I met with Fabian Consbro. He's a clinical
03:22 psychologist outside Denver who works closely with the Hispanic community,
03:26 which is one and a half times more likely to develop Alzheimer's. He puts
03:31 patients through cognitive tests that can lead to a diagnosis. What's the
03:34 moment like when you have to tell a patient that they have Alzheimer's? That
03:39 is just as bad as giving someone a cancer diagnosis because it's a
03:43 terminal disease. This is the disease they're gonna die from. For as difficult
03:47 as a diagnosis may be, he says getting help also can be hard because of the
03:51 several steps and medical professionals dementia patients often need to meet
03:56 with to get treatment. He worries Lekembe will be out of reach for many of his
04:00 patients. Not only do they need to get the diagnosis, they need to get
04:04 the referral back to the specialist or back to their primary care doctor. The
04:07 provider has to be caught up on the medication and feel comfortable with
04:12 that medication. Lekembe is meant to treat those who are in the early stages
04:15 of Alzheimer's, which Jim Hurley, he with the Alzheimer's Association of
04:19 Colorado says makes access important. Every day 2000 people advance to
04:24 another stage of the disease. So having access to these medications right now is
04:31 critical for those people and their families in 2022 with Alzheimer's
04:36 awareness as her platform. Waller one Mrs Colorado. At the time I was like 60
04:42 and I've learned that no matter how old you are, you continue to grow. She says
04:49 while new drug developments are a major step forward, making sure people know
04:53 the signs and symptoms are an important part of the fight against a disease
04:57 that still has no cure.
04:59 Chris Stewart, Scripps News Denver.