The ongoing battle against Alzheimer’s disease may have a new weapon soon. Pharmaceutical firm Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB), backed up by Eisai (OTCPK:ESALF), just landed a big nod from the FDA that will let its Alzheimer’s therapy hit markets in the near future.
Reports note that the FDA officially gave the nod to Biogen and Eisai’s lecanemab, which will get a slightly less cumbersome name for its marketing: Leqembi. This isn’t the first time that Biogen has tackled Alzheimer’s either; it’s just the most successful so far. Previously, Biogen worked to tackle Alzheimer’s with its Aduhelm drug. However, Aduhelm couldn’t quite make much headway thanks to its potential faults in efficacy and the fact that Medicare wasn’t particularly interested in covering it.
Nevertheless, Leqembi should prove much different. Already, Leqembi’s testing showed that it offered “…significant dose- and time-dependent reduction of amyloid beta plaque…” Sufficiently significant, reports noted, to allow it to pass FDA muster. Some note that Leqembi will not work miracles and even comes with some risks. Those risks include the potential for brain swelling and even brain bleeding.
While Leqembi may be coming under fire, analysts are overall pretty enthusiastic about its maker, Biogen. Analyst consensus currently calls Biogen a Moderate Buy. With an average price target of $314.57, Biogen shares offer 11.84% potential upside.
