as their white peers, they were screened out of clinical trials of these drugs at a higher rate, according to interviews with 10 researchers as well as four Eisai and Lilly executives.
Referring to Leqembi, Dr. Crystal Glover, a social psychologist and expert in equity in aging research who leads clinical trial recruitment of the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in Chicago, asked: “Is this even applicable to the groups that are most at risk?” Leqembi is being launched at a price of $26,500 per year after it received full US regulatory approval this month.
Despite the amyloid screening failures, Hispanics made up 22.5% of the U.S. arm of Eisai’s trial, an overrepresentation compared to the US population. The company is targeting Black enrollment of at least 8% in the 1,400 person trial, Shobha Dhadda, Eisai’s global head of biostatistics, told Reuters. So far, 95% to 98% of Black candidates are failing to meet the amyloid threshold required for inclusion, she said.Black people and Hispanics were also screened out at somewhat higher rates in the trial for Lilly’s experimental drug donanemab, said Dr Mark Mintun, Lilly’s group vice president for neuroscience research and development.
Yet some tests that are used to identify these proteins may perform differently among Black and white patients. In a 2021 paper published in Nature Reviews Neurology, Barnes argued that scientists need a better understanding of Alzheimer’s in Black people or else effective treatments would not be available to this at-risk, but under-represented population.
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