Novel Alzheimer’s Therapies Given to Less than 20 Percent of Applicants

From Jiji

April 8 2026

TOKYO – Novel Alzheimer’s therapies have been given to 19 pct of outpatients who applied for the medications, according to a recent survey at a Tokyo hospital. 
   The lecanemab and donanemab therapies for early-stage Alzheimer’s patients are now clinically available under Japan’s national health insurance scheme, which curbs a sharp rise in out-of-pocket medical expenses.
   Despite the relatively low-cost availability, however, the drugs have eventually been administered to only 87 out of 456 applicants, the survey by a study group at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology showed.
   During the survey period between December 2023 and April last year, 205 of the total applicants at the medical institute were allowed to go through detailed checkups while the others were eliminated as candidate beneficiaries of the novel therapies to slow cognitive decline.
   Ryoko Ihara, chief physician at the institute, and colleagues said many applicants were not able to receive the treatments due to the disease’s progression to later stages, failure to confirm the accumulation of amyloid beta plaques, the drugs’ targets, in the brain, or magnetic resonance imaging results suggesting the danger of providing the therapies. They also cited concerns over side effects and costs for constant hospital visits as major obstacles.