Lay summary by Sophia Hayward, reviewed by Dr Scott Allen and a Dementia lay panel
Background
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) gets worse over time but typically starts with mild memory problems such as misplacing items and later causes difficulty with language, decision making and recognising people. AD involves proteins building up in the brain causing tangles and sticky masses to gather, ultimately brain cells die, causing the brain shrinkage.
Current AD medicine offers temporary symptom relief but fails to slow disease progression. Lecanemab is a new treatment that aims to slow the early stages of AD by reducing the build up of the sticky proteins in the brain.
Why is the study important?
This study is important because AD gets worse over many years. Previous research into Lecanemab had only studied patients for a couple of years, which shows how the disease develops in the short-term instead of showing how AD affects the rest of the patient’s life.
To show how AD and Lecanemab affects the rest of the patient’s life this study used a computer model to estimate how Lecanemab could affect the survival of the patient and whether it will delay the onset of the later, more severe disease stages. These estimations may help patients, families and healthcare professionals to understand how this treatment could affect the independence and quality of life of the patient.
What did the authors do and how did they do it?
The authors of this study used a computer model to estimate the long-term outcomes of patients with early AD. Patients were given one of two treatments: Lecanemab plus standard care or standard care only- standard care involves medications to manage symptoms, support from family and carers and assessment of AD symptoms.
The computer model generated long-term health outcomes over many years and compared the results between the two groups. This method allowed the researchers to estimate how AD symptoms may progress over time and how Lecanemab may affect the symptoms.
What are the results?
The findings of this study shows that the health outcomes of those who received Lecanemab were better than those who only received standard care. More specifically, the results suggest that patients who received Lecanemab were likely to experience a slower progression of AD; they spent longer in the mild stages of the disease and less time living with severe AD. This suggests that those patients will maintain higher levels of independence for longer compared to those who only received standard care.
Due to spending more time in the less-severe stages of AD, Lecanemab could potentially delay the need for patients to enter full-time care. Despite the results of this study providing an insight into how Lecanemab might affect patient’s lives long-term and support decision making for health professionals and patients, the researchers noted that these results are estimates and not guarantees as the findings are based on modelling rather than real-world data.
What do the findings mean going forward for people with the disease?
The findings of this study support the continued use of Lecanemab as a treatment for AD, as the results suggest that people with AD might experience long-term benefits from the treatment instead of just short-term benefits, as shown in previous research.
The findings may also provide patients, families and healthcare professionals with clearer information when considering treatment options.
Importantly, the results emphasise the importance of early diagnosis of the disease as Lecanemab appears to be most effective when given during the early stages of AD.
This study can be found at
https://doi.org/10.1080/13696998.2025.2600875
Paper title
Estimating the long-term health outcomes of treatment with lecanemab in early Alzheimer’s disease: a modelling study
Lead author
Oliver Burn, Craig Ritchie.
Publication details including date of publication
Journal of Medical Economics, 29(1), pp.250–262, 28th January 2026