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  • WORLD VIEW

Europe sidelines Alzheimer’s drug: lessons must be learnt

If the European Medicines Agency takes an overly cautious approach to selecting specialists to advise on new medicines, people could be left without treatments.
  1. Henrik Zetterberg

    1. Henrik Zetterberg is a neurochemist at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

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On 25 July, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) refused to approve the clinical use of lecanemab, a drug that can slow cognitive decline during the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The decision puts the EMA at odds with regulatory bodies across the world. For example, lecanemab has been approved in the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

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Nature 633, 255 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02914-4

Competing Interests

H.Z. has served on scientific advisory boards and/or as a consultant for Abbvie, Acumen, Alector, Alzinova, ALZPath, Amylyx, Annexon, Apellis, Artery Therapeutics, AZTherapies, Cognito Therapeutics, CogRx, Denali, Eisai, LabCorp, Merry Life, Nervgen, Novo Nordisk, Optoceutics, Passage Bio, Pinteon Therapeutics, Prothena, Red Abbey Labs, reMYND, Roche, Samumed, Siemens Healthineers and Triplet Thera.

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