STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about Medicare and Alzheimer’s drugs, estrogen patch shortages, and more
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- Medicare reports that uptake of the newly approved Alzheimer’s drugs Leqembi and Kisunla is far lower than federal projections.
- Medicare now forecasts minimal spending on Leqembi and Kisunla for 2026‑2027, a stark reversal from its 2024 estimate of billions in annual costs for Leqembi alone.
- Leqembi is an intravenous medication requiring extensive imaging, limiting its administration to a small pool of eligible patients.
- Leqembi and Kisunla have modest clinical benefits and carry a risk of severe brain bleeding.
Why it matters: Medicare will save billions it expected on Leqembi and Kisunla, while patients miss out on limited‑availability treatments that offer modest benefits and carry brain‑bleeding risk.
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