Reducing Wasteful Spending on Discarded Lecanemab in the US Medicare Program

Lecanemab, an infusion drug for Alzheimer disease, could cost Medicare billions of dollars annually.1 Because lecanemab dosing is weight-based (10 mg/kg every 2 weeks) and only available in single-use 500- and 200-mg vials,1 substantial leftover drug may lead to wasteful spending.2 In a cross-sectional study, we quantified the projected cost of discarded lecanemab in the US Medicare program and modeled potential savings from using alternative vial sizes.