July 5, 2023

Is the medical system ready for Alzheimer's drugs that work?

Physician and professor Jason Karlawish argues that new promising drugs like lecanemab, an anti-amyloid antibody expected to be approved by the FDA July 6, will introduce complicated issues into the field of Alzheimer's care. These medications require a great deal of testing and patient monitoring, trained physicians, and other resources in a system that is already stretched thin.

"Dr. Karlawish's dream of reason would be … a training module for physicians to learn the key things they need to learn and then self-assess their comfort with the drug," Karlawish said. "But that's Karlawish's dream of reason in a world that seems increasingly less reasonable sometimes."

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