The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month approved a new medication that’s been proven to help people with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, which includes mild cognitive impairment and the mild dementia stage of Alzheimer’s disease.
Called Donanemab, this treatment from Eli Lilly will be sold under its brand name, Kisunla, and works as an intravenous infusion injected every four weeks.
Alzheimer’s has no cure and can’t be reversed, but the FDA-approved drug can slow cognitive decline. Eli Lilly reported that a year of Kisunla costs $32,000, and the drug does have serious potential side effects, like brain swelling or bleeding.
The new drug is bringing hope to hundreds of thousands of Floridians who have the disease or have loved ones who have been diagnosed with it.
Alzheimer’s is a growing public health crisis in Florida, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The non-profit organization estimates that 580,000 people 65 years of age and older live with it in the state, and Miami-Dade County has the highest rate of people in that age group in the country.
What is Alzheimer’s?
A healthy human brain has 100 billion nerve cells or neurons that transmit information to different parts of the brain, muscles, and body organs.
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