Our newest research-advisor Prof. Randall J. Bateman, MD.
Lecanemab Rollout in KY
Pat & Dennis Bender Early Dementia Diagnosis & Prognosis Fund
J. Dennis Bender
Office, Home & Cell Phone: 859-391-5226
5726 La Jolla Blvd. – Suite 311
La Jolla, CA 92037-7345
&
Office - 100 Riverside Pl. - Suite 303
Covington, KY 41011-5711
We support the development of improved diagnostic methods for the early detection and diagnosis of MCI, Alzheimer’s, vascular and other dementias, their likely prognosis, and best treatment options. We focus on the development of Bayesian-based medical-decision-support systems, comparative-effectiveness research, and the better utilization of these for the above. (After incorporating in KY as a 501(c)(3) in 2002, we dissolved that entity for a simplified form of two entirely self-financed, private philanthropies utilizing a Vanguard Charitable Trust for making $100K annual-research-grants for early-dementia-detection and its correct differential-diagnosis and likely-prognosis. They will continue on, after I am long gone, either mentally or physically. Prof. Randall Bateman is the first of our fund’s research advisors, KMK Law is our legal advisor and David J. Bender is my Estate Rep. (See: https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/research_progress/earlier-diagnosis)
www.JDBender.com – EMS/eVTOL & Educational Experimental Aviation Fund (Vanguard Charitable Trust)
www.JDBender.org – Dementia Diagnosis Fund (Vanguard Charitable Trust)
November 28, 2023
A leading hypothesis says Alzheimer's-disease is caused by the protein beta-amyloid building-up in the brain. This illustration depicts beta-amyloid coalescing into plaques. [National Institute on Aging/National Institutes of Health]
“Looking forward to whatever life I have … given back to me. . . Look, I'm 76-years-old. I've got a lot of energy left in my old-body, and I'm ready to go as long as the Lord is willing.” So do I at 81! So, you can stick mad Dr. T. J. Redington’s reco ‘you should just move to a senior-care-facility’ up his rectum!
“This new AD medication, lecanemab, can significantly slow dementia’s progression. People celebrated when lecanemab got an important clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July. Staff at the Norton Neuroscience Institute Memory Center in Louisville already had been laying the groundwork so they could quickly start providing the new treatment.”
Knowing all the problems I’ve had to date with my local ex-PCP just to get my repeatedly-requested, early-dementia-test-kit from C2N, I can take-heart in this encouraging news-release regarding obtaining lecanemab treatment right here in KY or in La Jolla. Hopefully, easier and faster than the experience I’ve had so far to date with getting Redington’s office to get me that also already-FDA-approved early-dementia-test-kit; that I’ve been helping to finance the development of and following its progress in obtaining approval for the past-2-decades now.
A New Alzheimer’s Treatment Is Available in Kentucky. Here’s How The Rollout Is Going
Louisville Public Media | By Morgan Watkins - Published November 27, 2023
Lecanemab, also known by the brand name Leqembi, is not a cure for Alzheimer’s-disease. But research indicates the new medication can significantly slow its progression.
People celebrated when lecanemab got an important clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July. Staff at the Norton Neuroscience Institute Memory Center in Louisville already had been laying the groundwork so they could quickly start providing the new treatment.
One of their first patients is Ann Bruce, a lifelong Louisvillian. She recently started receiving lecanemab, which is given through intravenous-infusions every-two-weeks. [And costs $26,500, if you can get it, that is.]
She said the team at the Norton Neuroscience Institute Memory Center has been wonderful.
“They're welcoming. They get you comfortable,” she said. “I'm not big on shots or anything like that. But the infusion is a simple needle that goes into your arm. And I will tell you, I haven't even squinted.”
People are still researching what causes Alzheimer’s. A leading hypothesis points to the accumulation of a specific protein, known as beta-amyloid, in the brain. And lecanemab is designed to remove those proteins.
“Its job is to break-up the amyloids. After my first treatment, my daughter and I were driving home and we started making-u- songs about … how-to-get-rid-of-amyloid,” Bruce said, chuckling, as she sat in her home one recent morning.
Dr. Greg Cooper is the Director of the Norton’s Memory Center. He said Norton is one of the first places in the country to begin providing lecanemab.
“It's been enormously gratifying as we see people start this treatment,” he said. “They know that we're not curing the disease. But there's still a lot of hope and excitement that we're slowing-this-down, we're helping them preserve-what-they-have.”
Cooper said his team has set-up processes to safely-administer-lecanemab.
First, medical staff evaluate prospective patients to see if they’re eligible-candidates for the medication. Lecanemab is targeted toward people in the early-stages-of-Alzheimer’s who have mild-cognitive-impairment, [as I do.]
Cooper said the Norton team screens-patients to see-if-they-have-elevated-levels-of-amyloid-in-their-brain. And the team runs-other-tests to see if they have a high-risk-of-experiencing-complications-from-the-medication.
Another issue medical providers and patients have to navigate is financing. Depending on the health-insurance-plan, Cooper said lecanemab treatments can cost a patient anywhere between zero-dollars and $500-per-month.
He said they’ve already seen denials for coverage by insurance, and Norton team-members are exploring how to limit those denials. [fortunately, I can easily pay cash, so I don’t care about my Humana healthcare coverage.]
If a patient is cleared-for-treatment, they start-lecanemab-infusions. The patient also gets periodic-MRI-scans to see if there’s any swelling or bleeding in-the-brain, which are serious, [but very-rare,] possible-side-effects.
Because of those potential-complications, administering lecanemab requires “a great deal of planning and precaution,” said Dr. Greg Jicha, a Professor of Neurology at the University of Kentucky, [one of my own neurologists.] “It really is a therapy that requires some degree of expertise, confidence — and most-importantly — the system-set-up to ensure patient-safety as well as access,” he said. [Right on! As usual.]
UK’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging has done clinical-trial work on lecanemab. Now that the medication has full-Federal-approval, the Center is scheduled to start providing lecanemab treatments the first week of December.
Jicha said the Center has screened well over 100 patients so far. But he estimates thousands-more Kentuckians will be eligible-candidates.
That’s why he wants to eventually see institutions like UK and Norton work with other healthcare providers to expand access to this breakthrough treatment.
“This infusion-therapy requires visits every two weeks,” [as I will,] he said. “And if people have to drive to Louisville and Lexington, it's going to be prohibitive for the breadth of our state and the many folks in rural areas. … Not everybody's going to be able to walk-through-the-door all-at-once. It's going to be a process of figuring-out how we bring these folks in and how we bring them in safely.”
Cooper, of the Norton Memory Center, said how long a patient should receive lecanemab, over the long-term, is an open-question.
In the field of Alzheimer’s-treatment, this is new territory.
Likewise, Bruce doesn’t know for sure how the lecanemab-infusions will affect her long-term-prognosis. But she’s excited she’s able to try the medication, [as I am too!]
She said she’s taking it easy and “looking forward to whatever life I have … given back to me.”
“Look, I'm 76-years-old,” she said. “I've got a lot of energy left in my old-body, and I'm ready to go as long as the Lord is willing.”
{Lecanemab Rollout in KY}
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