TOKYO and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 27, 2024 \u2013 Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, CEO: Haruo
\nNaito, \u201cEisai\u201d) and Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB, Corporate headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts,
\nCEO: Christopher A. Viehbacher, \u201cBiogen\u201d) announced today that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
\n(MFDS) in South Korea has approved humanized anti-soluble aggregated amyloid-beta (A\u03b2)
\nmonoclonal antibody \u201cLEQEMBI\u00ae\u201d (lecanemab) for treatment in adult patients with mild cognitive
\nimpairment due to Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD) or mild AD (early AD).<\/p>\n
LEQEMBI selectively binds to soluble A\u03b2 aggregates (protofibrils*), as well as insoluble A\u03b2 aggregates
\n(fibrils) which are a major component of A\u03b2 plaques in AD, thereby reducing both A\u03b2 protofibrils and A\u03b2
\nplaques in the brain. LEQEMBI is the first and only approved treatment shown to reduce the rate of
\ndisease progression and to slow cognitive and functional decline through this mechanism. South Korea
\nis the fourth country to grant approval, following approvals in the U.S., Japan, and China.<\/p>\n
It is estimated there were approximately 900,000 dementia patients in South Korea in 2021,1 with one
\nin ten people over the age of 65 suffering from dementia, and one in five from mild cognitive impairment
\n(MCI). The average annual nursing care and medical costs per dementia patient is estimated to be
\n21.1 million KRW, while the cost for patients with severe dementia reaches 33.1 million KRW.<\/p>\n
Eisai serves as the lead of LEQEMBI development and regulatory submissions globally with both Eisai
\nand Biogen co-commercializing and co-promoting the product and Eisai having final decision-making
\nauthority. In South Korea, Eisai Korea Inc. will distribute the product and conduct information provision
\nactivities. Eisai is committed to working together with healthcare professionals and other stakeholders
\nto realize the early diagnosis and treatment of AD.<\/p>\n
* Protofibrils are believed to contribute to the brain injury that occurs with AD and are considered to be
\nthe most toxic form of A\u03b2, having a primary role in the cognitive decline associated with this
\nprogressive, debilitating condition. Protofibrils cause injury to neurons in the brain, which in turn, can
\nnegatively impact cognitive function via multiple mechanisms, not only increasing the development
\nof insoluble A\u03b2 plaques but also increasing direct damage to brain cell membranes and the
\nconnections that transmit signals between nerve cells or nerve cells and other cells. It is believed the
\nreduction of protofibrils may prevent the progression of AD by reducing damage to neurons in the
\nbrain and cognitive dysfunction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eisai and Biogen announced today that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
\n(MFDS) in South Korea has approved humanized anti-soluble aggregated amyloid-beta (A\u03b2)
\nmonoclonal antibody \u201cLEQEMBI\u00ae\u201d (lecanemab) for treatment in adult patients with mild cognitive
\nimpairment due to Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD) or mild AD (early AD).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eisai.com.cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eisai.com.cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eisai.com.cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eisai.com.cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eisai.com.cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eisai.com.cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7850,"href":"https:\/\/www.eisai.com.cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7849\/revisions\/7850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eisai.com.cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eisai.com.cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eisai.com.cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}