Eisai reporting positive data on injectable Alzheimer’s drug

Japanese pharma company Eisai (ESAIY) reported positive results in clinical trials of its Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi. This could mean a revolution for administering the drug, which is currently only administered via IV. Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani breaks down what this means in terms of access and costs as concerns about side effects and formularies are evident.

Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) are also working together to develop a combo COVID-flu vaccine, showing positive data in its trial.

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Video transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Pharmaceutical giant Eisai says an injectable version of the Alzheimer's drug, Leqembi, is showing positive results in clinical trials. The new therapy clearing 14% more of the specific plaques found in the brains of people who have Alzheimer's than the currently approved drug, which is administered through an IV. Eisai sells the drugs in partnership with Biogen. And Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani is here with more. So, you know, put this in perspective for us, this report.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Yeah, Julie, of course. So this, of course, opens the door of a broader conversation about access to this drug. That's really what the main focus of this report is with similar results to the infused version, the infusion version of the drug. What Eisai and Biogen are saying with this report is, rather than just being stuck to a hospital atmosphere and covered by Medicare Part B, this opens the door to Part D coverage and also for more locations where patients could, for example, self-administer the drug at home.

And we know that is something that is increasingly popular, because we've seen that with weight loss drugs and diabetes drugs. So it really falls into that category of more patients, more potential outlets and access points for this drug. Of course, the side effects are still a concern. And that is likely not to change according to a conversation that I had with an Eisai executive earlier. There still will be the normal routine follow-up every couple of weeks. But the idea that patients won't necessarily have to be stuck in the hospital once every two weeks could free up and open the door for more of those patients.

And I spoke to Alex Scott, who's a VP at Eisai and had a little chat about what this really means for the drug, how things are going with the current infusion version. There was supposed to be slow uptake as a result of caution over the previous Aduhelm, which we saw having some concerning effects and concerning costs. And he told me that actually the formularies have been quick to take up and approve this infused version, in fact, you know, faster than what they had anticipated. And they're actually starting to see new ways of treatment and new sort of models coming up that help put treatment for this and patients at the center with, say, a neurologist, an infusion chair, and MRI monitoring all in one place rather than dedicated to the separate departments than already exist.

So it's just-- it's a fascinating sort of story right now for Eisai and Biogen coming out of that Aduhelm saga and seeing a little bit more maybe enthusiasm around this new drug.

JOSH LIPTON: And Anjalee, Pfizer and BioNTech out with good news on the vaccine front today. What did we learn there?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's right. An early stage trial showed that there was at least good tolerance a good safety profile for their combination flu and vaccine-- flu and COVID vaccine, sorry. And that's good news, because now we're going to start seeing old foes back again in a race with Moderna as well as Novavax and a couple others pursuing this combination vaccine ideally, so that, you know, we as a patients and individuals don't have to get three or two shots every year.

There are also RSV plus COVID plus flu combination vaccines in the works. So this is just part of this growing portfolio of addressing respiratory viruses. So that maybe flu season isn't so bad for flu season. And now we know, of course, with COVID. So good news out there. Still have to wait to see how they get to the finish line with phase three and what the FDA has to say about all that.