Over a year has passed since Yasuko Arakawa, who had been diagnosed with an early-onset type of dementia, disappeared from their home in the western Japan city of Yonago. Her husband Tsutomu is desperately seeking any information on her whereabouts.
Japan’s Central Social Insurance Medical Council, which advises the health minister, approved Wednesday public health insurance coverage for donanemab, an Alzheimer’s medicine developed by U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. The government set the drug’s price at 66,948 yen per 350-milligram vial. As a dip is required every month, it will cost a patient about 3.08 million yen per year. Treatment with donanemab will last up to 18 months. Due to the high costs, the government will provide subsidies to cap patients’ out-of-pocket expenses. As a result, most of the costs will be shouldered by the government. The insurance coverage will start Nov. 20.
The research group developed a gamelike system that uses a cylindrical device with the firmness of hard tofu. Users adjust their grip force between 150 and 400 grams to trace a line of stars displayed on the screen. People with mild cognitive impairment tend to deviate from the line more easily than healthy elderly individuals, allowing for early detection of those suspected of developing the condition.
The central Japan city of Obu, Aichi Prefecture, has created an orange-colored “dementia help mark” to make it easier for people to talk to dementia sufferers in need of support. The step was proposed by Ryuichi Takai, 74, who lost his father with dementia in a train accident. “I hope the help mark will become available nationwide to reduce as much as possible the number of people who have to feel the same kind of grief I did,” Takai said.
The Japanese government will promote a “new perception of dementia” to offer hope to those living with the syndrome, according to a draft plan presented Monday. The plan, which incorporates opinions from dementia sufferers, sets four priority targets, including utilizing new insights and technologies, and calls on local governments to draw up their own plans for helping people with dementia. It is expected to be approved by the cabinet in autumn.
A Japanese health ministry panel gave the green light Thursday for the manufacture and sale of the Alzheimer’s drug donanemab-azbt, developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co.
After the soon-to-come formal approval by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the drug, under the brand name Kisunla, will become the second medicine available in Japan for treating early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. The drug works by removing accumulated amyloid beta proteins in the brain, slowing the progress of the disease.
Japan is forecast to have 5,866,000 elderly dementia patients in 2050, up over 1.4 million from 2022, an estimate showed said on Wednesday 8th May.
Many hospitals in Japan have experienced difficulties dealing with cancer patients with dementia, a survey by the Japan Cancer Society showed Saturday.
The survey was carried out in April-June 2023 for 451 hospitals designated by the health minister to provide high-quality treatment to cancer patients, with 256 of them, or 57 pct, giving responses.
The police are investigating whether there are any additional crimes, but in an interview with an investigator, it was learned that he had explained to the investigator that he had visited the home of an elderly dementia patient in the name of providing crime prevention guidance, and had stolen cash.
Prime Minister Kishida has instructed his cabinet ministers to quickly study the need to prevent “care leavers” from quitting their jobs for nursing care or nursing reasons, with the aim of submitting the necessary amendments to the law in next year’s ordinary Diet session.
Barrier Free Japan