LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved medication that treats Early Symptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease. This has come as exciting news for advocates and those who are in the early stages of the disease.
The Greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association is celebrating the FDA’s approval of Eli Lilly’s drug donanemab, which the company has named Kisunla.
“It’s so exciting, and I just wish that this had been available for my granny and the hundreds of seniors with Alzheimer’s and dementia that I have taken care of in the last 23 years,” said Sara Olivencia, a volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Association.
During Olivencia’s time of working in senior living, she held fundraisers for the Alzheimer’s Association. She started volunteering with the organization about two years ago in honor of her grandmother, Margaret Bidwell.
“Multiple times a month, granny would have us all over for family cookouts, and those are just some of my most fond memories as a child,” Olivencia said.
But things changed when her grandma developed Alzheimer’s disease. Bidwell started to stress about a variety of things to the point where the worry overcame her.
“Our family gatherings got to be less and less,” Olivencia said. “It was too stressful for her to have people over. In fact, she didn’t want to leave the house to go to family gatherings at other people’s home.”
This is why she's excited about Eli Lilly’s new Alzheimer’s treatment. Over an 18-month period, the drug slowed cognitive and functional decline by up to 35% compared to placebo, according to a press release. It also decreased the risk of progressing to the next clinical stage of the disease by almost 40%.
“These drugs do treat the disease instead of just the symptoms, so that’s why it’s exciting because it’s giving options to our families that they can try it out and see if they’re eligible and then weigh the risks and weigh the treatments and the costs and things like that and see if they are a good candidate for some of these new, exciting treatments that are out,” said Shannon White, chapter executive for the Greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Though the medication wasn’t around for Olivencia’s grandmother, she said she's glad it’s here now.
“It’s the hope that maybe my generation, my kids, I hope my aunts and uncles ... with it being hereditary, that there’s hope for them, that they will not suffer from this disease,” Olivencia said.
Kisunla is an IV infusion drug that is done once a month for 30 minutes. It will be covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance.
White recommended those who may be experiencing symptoms and want to look into these treatments talk with their primary care physician.