WASHINGTON — U.S. officials have approved another Alzheimer’s drug that can modestly slow the disease, providing a new option for patients in the early stages of the incurable, memory-destroying ailment.The Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s Kisunla on Tuesday for mild or early cases of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s.
Only those with early or mild disease will be eligible for the new drug, and an even smaller subset are likely to undergo the multi-step process needed to get a prescription.The FDA approved Kisunla, known chemically as donanemab, based on results from an 18-month study in which patients given getting the treatment declined about 22% more slowly in terms of memory and cognitive ability than those who received a dummy infusion.