Overview

• Biogen and Eisai confirmed Germany and Austria as the first EU markets to offer the anti-amyloid antibody lecanemab.
• Use is restricted to early-stage Alzheimer patients and generally to those with zero or one ApoE4 allele, with exclusions such as significant cerebrovascular disease or oral anticoagulants due to ARIA risks.
• EU approval requires enrollment in a patient registry and close safety monitoring, including repeated MRI scans to track brain swelling or microbleeds.
• Treatment involves intravenous infusions every two weeks for up to 18 months following confirmatory biomarker and genetic testing.
• Estimated costs are about €24,000 per year for the drug plus roughly €10,000 for testing and monitoring, and some clinics warn capacity and billing constraints could slow rollout at certain sites.