USFDA accepts Eisai’s sBLA and grants priority review for approval of LEQEMBITM Alzheimer’s treatment

Eisai and Biogen announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Eisai’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for LEQEMBITM (lecanemab-irmb) 100 mg/mL injection for intravenous use, supporting the conversion of the accelerated approval of LEQEMBI to a traditional approval. The LEQEMBI application has been granted Priority Review, with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date of July 6, 2023. The FDA is currently planning to hold an Advisory Committee to discuss this application but has not yet publicly announced the date of the meeting

LEQEMBI is a humanied immunoglobulin gamma 1 (IgG1) monoclonal antibody directed against aggregated soluble (protofibrils*) and insoluble forms of amyloid beta (Aβ), approved under the Accelerated Approval Pathway for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) on January 6, 2023.

On the same day that LEQEMBI received its accelerated approval, Eisai submitted the sBLA to the FDA for approval under the traditional pathway.

The sBLA is based on the findings from Eisai’s recently published large, global confirmatory Phase 3 clinical trial, Clarity AD. LEQEMBI met the primary endpoint and all key secondary endpoints with highly statistically significant results. In November 2022, results of the Clarity AD study were presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) conference and simultaneously published in the peer-reviewed medical journal, The New England Journal of Medicine.

LEQEMBI was approved under accelerated approval in the US and was launched in the US on January 18, 2023. The accelerated approval was based on Phase 2 data that demonstrated that LEQEMBI reduced the accumulation of Aβ plaque in the brain, a defining feature of AD, and its continued approval may be contingent upon verification of LEQEMBI’s clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial. The FDA has determined that the results of Clarity AD can serve as a confirmatory study to verify the clinical benefit of lecanemab.

Eisai serves as the lead of LEQEMBI development and regulatory submissions globally with both Eisai and Biogen co-commercialising and co-promoting the product and Eisai having final decision-making authority.

Treatment with LEQEMBI should only be initiated in patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia stage of disease and confirmed presence of Aβ pathology.