Patients in rural regions of the U.S. already struggle to access healthcare services, now both rural patients and their physicians are waiting to access a new Alzheimer's drug, according to a May 7 report from The Wall Street Journal.
Leqembi, manufactured through a collaboration between pharmaceutical giants Biogen and Eisai, received accelerated approval from the FDA in January as a promising Alzheimer's treatment.
The drug slows cognitive decline by about 27 percent, research found. It is one of several up-and-coming treatments in line for Alzheimer's. Eli Lilly also announced it will soon seek FDA approval for a treatment of its own, the Journal reported.
But rural hospitals have some concerns about adopting the new drug just yet.
"Some rural health systems, meanwhile, said they would wait to see whether Medicare covers the drugs and whether more evidence supports their efficacy before adding them to the workload of thinly staffed hospitals and clinics," the Journal reported.
Rural health systems and hospitals often see a higher number of Medicare and Medicaid patients and typically rely more on payments from CMS to sustain operations — fueling the hesitancy to adopt and prescribe the drug just yet. As of now, the drug is only covered by Medicare in clinical trials, but if it receives full FDA approval, coverage will expand.
The FDA is slated to make a decision regarding whether to grant full approval of Leqembi July 6.