New Alzheimer’s drugs heat up race for early detection blood tests

With the advent of disease-modifying Alzheimer’s drugs, everyone in the world of Alzheimer’s diagnostics is bracing for the crush.

Based on their ability to slow cognitive decline, the Eisai/Biogen drug Leqembi won full approval from the FDA this month, and donanemab by Eli Lilly could be approved by year end. Clinicians now have to decide which patients are most suitable for treatment, which means better Alzheimer’s tests need to be developed.

“There’s going to be capacity issues because there’s just not enough neurologists in the world to treat this pool of patients with Alzheimer’s disease at the moment,” said Mark Stearman, a senior international product manager at Roche focusing on Alzheimer’s diagnostics.