Therapeutic Goods Administration decides not to register lecanemab in Australia

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- BioArctic AB's (publ) (NASDAQ: BIOA B) (STOCKHOLM: BIOA B) partner Eisai announced today that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) of Australia has declined the approval of lecanemab (generic name) as a treatment for early Alzheimer's disease (AD) (mild cognitive impairment due to AD and mild AD dementia). Eisai remains committed to ensuring eligible Australians with early Alzheimer's disease can access lecanemab and is exploring options to achieve this, including potentially seeking review by the Administrative Review Tribunal.

In October 2024, the TGA made the decision not to register lecanemab in Australia for the treatment of patients with early AD. In December 2024, Eisai requested reconsideration of the decision, proposing to the TGA the same apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4) noncarrier and heterozygote indication that was agreed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA). In the course of the reconsideration of the initial decision, the TGA proposed an alternative narrow therapeutic indication only for ApoE4 noncarriers as an increasing number of ApoE4 alleles is a potential risk factor for ARIA. They did not agree that safety has been established for ApoE4 heterozygotes. Eisai proposed alternative indications, one of which was to maintain the ApoE4 noncarrier and heterozygote indication, but with heterozygotes treated in specialist centers and supervised by physicians with expertise in treatment of AD and monitoring for ARIA; however, the TGA rejected Eisai's proposal. 

"We are very disappointed with the TGA's decision. Foremost it is sad for all patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals in Australia who will now have to wait longer for a treatment which can effectively change the course of this devastating disease. We know that for these patients, time is what they value the most and denying them a treatment which has been shown to delay the onset of more severe stages of the diseases is of course not what they or we had hoped for," said Gunilla Osswald, CEO at BioArctic.

In Australia, the number of people living with dementia was estimated to be approximately 411,000 in 2023, and is reported to increase to approximately 849,000 by 2058.^[1] AD is considered the most common cause of dementia, typically accounting for 60-70% of cases.^[2] AD progresses in stages that increase in severity over time, and each stage of the disease presents different challenges for those living with AD and their care partners. There is a significant unmet need for new treatment options that slow down the progression of AD from its early stage and reduce the overall burden on people affected by AD and society.

Aβ which is involved in the onset of AD, gradually aggregates in the brain 15 to 20 years before symptoms appear, eventually forming insoluble plaques, a pathological feature of AD. AD is a progressive, relentless disease caused by a continuous underlying neurotoxic process that begins before and continues after plaque removal.^[3],[4],[5] Lecanemab works to fight AD in two ways: continuously clearing protofibrils, the most toxic Aβ species, and rapidly clearing plaque. This mechanism has been shown to reduce the rate of disease progression and to slow cognitive and functional decline.

Lecanemab has so far been approved in 11 markets including the U.S., Japan, China and the United Kingdom. Regulatory filings for the treatment have been made in the EU and 17 other countries and regions In the EU, in February 2025, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use reaffirmed its positive opinion for lecanemab in early AD, adopted in November 2024, and the European Commission is proceeding with the decision-making process for lecanemab's marketing authorization.

Leqembi is the result of a long-standing collaboration between BioArctic and Eisai, and the antibody was originally developed by BioArctic based on the work of Professor Lars Lannfelt and his discovery of the Arctic mutation in Alzheimer's disease. Eisai is responsible for the clinical development, applications for market approval and commercialization of Lecanemab for Alzheimer's disease. BioArctic has the right to commercialize Leqembi in the Nordic region together with Eisai and currently, the two companies are preparing for a joint commercialization in the region.  

The information was released for public disclosure, through the agency of the contact person below, on March 3, 2025, at 09:00 CET.   

For further information, please contact:  
Oskar Bosson, VP Communications and IR 
E-mail:  [email protected] 
Phone: +46 70 410 71 80 

Charlotte af Klercker, Director Communications and Sustainability
E-mail: [email protected]  
Phone: +46 73 515 09 70

About lecanemab (Leqembi^®) 

Lecanemab is the result of a strategic research alliance between BioArctic and Eisai. It is a humanized immunoglobulin gamma 1 (IgG1) monoclonal antibody directed against aggregated soluble (protofibril) and insoluble forms of amyloid-beta (Aβ). 

Lecanemab is approved in the U.S., Japan, China, United Kingdom, and several other markets for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild AD dementia. Lecanemab's approvals in these countries, as well as the CHMP's positive opinion in November 2024, were primarily based on Phase 3 data from Eisai's global Clarity AD clinical trial, in which it met its primary endpoint and all key secondary endpoints with statistically significant results. Eisai has also submitted applications for regulatory approval of lecanemab in several other countries and regions.

A supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for less frequent intravenous maintenance dosing was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2025. In January 2025, the rolling submission of a Biologics License Application (BLA) for maintenance dosing of a subcutaneous auto injection formulation, which is being developed to enhance convenience for patients, was accepted in the U.S., with PDUFA date August 31, 2025. 

Since July 2020, Eisai's Phase 3 clinical study (AHEAD 3-45) with lecanemab in individuals with preclinical AD, meaning they are clinically normal and have intermediate or elevated levels of amyloid in their brains, is ongoing. The study was fully recruited in October 2024. AHEAD 3-45 is a four-year study conducted as a public-private partnership between the Alzheimer's Clinical Trial Consortium that provides the infrastructure for academic clinical trials in AD and related dementias in the U.S, funded by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health and Eisai. Since January 2022, the Tau NexGen clinical study for Dominantly Inherited AD (DIAD), that is conducted by Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network Trials Unit (DIAN-TU), led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is ongoing and includes lecanemab as the backbone anti-amyloid therapy. 

About the collaboration between BioArctic and Eisai 

Since 2005, BioArctic has a long-term collaboration with Eisai regarding the development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The most important agreements are the Development and Commercialization Agreement for the lecanemab antibody, which was signed 2007, and the Development and Commercialization agreement for the antibody Leqembi back-up for Alzheimer's disease, which was signed 2015. In 2014, Eisai and Biogen entered into a joint development and commercialization agreement for lecanemab. Eisai is responsible for the clinical development, application for market approval and commercialization of the products for Alzheimer's disease. BioArctic has the right to commercialize lecanemab in the Nordic region under certain conditions and is currently preparing for commercialization in the Nordics together with Eisai. BioArctic has no development costs for lecanemab in Alzheimer's disease and is entitled to payments in connection with regulatory approvals, and sales milestones as well as royalties on global sales. 

About BioArctic AB 

BioArctic AB (publ) is a Swedish research-based biopharma company focusing on innovative treatments that can delay or stop the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. The company is the originator of Leqembi^® (lecanemab) – the world's first drug proven to slow the progression of the disease and reduce cognitive impairment in early Alzheimer's disease. Leqembi has been developed together with Eisai. BioArctic has a broad research portfolio within Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, ALS and enzyme deficiency diseases. Several of the projects utilize the company's proprietary BrainTransporter™ technology, which improves the transport of drugs into the brain. BioArctic's B share (BIOA B) is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Large Cap.

For more information, please visit www.bioarctic.com. 

^[1] Dementia in Australia https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dementia/dementia-in-aus/contents/population-health-impacts-of-dementia/prevalence-of-dementia

^[2] World Health Organization. Dementia Fact Sheet. March 2023. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dementia

^[3] Eisai presents full results of lecanemab Phase 3 confirmatory Clarity AD study for early Alzheimer's disease at Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease (CTAD) conference. Available at: https://www.eisai.co.jp/news/2022/news202285.html

^[4] van Dyck, H., et al. Lecanemab in Early Alzheimer's Disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2023;388:9-21. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2212948

^[5] Hampel H, Hardy J, Blennow K, et al. The amyloid-β pathway in Alzheimer's disease. Mol Psychiatry. 2021;26(10):5481-5503

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