By Deena Beasley
(Reuters) -Eli Lilly on Thursday expanded its direct-to-consumer online platform LillyDirect to include telehealth providers to diagnose and care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, potentially boosting sales of its drug Kisunla.
“There are capacity challenges … not all patients live directly near a health center or a specialist who is treating Alzheimer’s patients,” said Laura Steele, senior vice president of U.S. neuroscience at Lilly.
Studies have shown that many patients face prolonged wait times to see a dementia specialist, limiting their ability to receive treatments, like Kisunla, that need to be used in the earliest stages of the mind-robbing disease.
“We need more accessible and comprehensive ways to rapidly evaluate patients with memory and thinking problems,” Dr. Eric Reiman, CEO of Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, said in an email.
Others, however, questioned whether access to telehealth providers would do much to solve the bottlenecks.
With video calls “something is lost in translation that you get face-to-face. Not to mention the physical part of it -understanding a person’s mobility issues is really important,” said Dr. David Knopman, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
He said a telehealth specialist would still need to locate doctors in brick-and-mortar facilities to carry out biomarker testing and treatment, which needs to be carefully monitored due to safety concerns.
“The last thing you want is therapy done at a distance,” Knopman said.
The LillyDirect website already connected people with telehealth providers to obtain mailed prescriptions for weight-loss medicine Zepbound, as well as other drugs for diabetes and migraine.
Kisunla, which is given by infusion and has an annual U.S. list price of around $32,000, is not available for home delivery. The drug, approved by U.S. regulators last July, had 2024 sales of $9.3 million.
Kisunla was the second approved drug designed to clear an Alzheimer’s-related protein called beta amyloid from the brains of people diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s. The first amyloid-clearing drug was Leqembi, sold by Eisai and Biogen.
Lilly said its website can connect people experiencing memory and thinking issues to independent in-person and telehealth options. These include the Healthgrades doctor locator tool to find local office-based clinicians with experience diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s patients and Synapticure, an independent provider specializing in neurodegenerative care.
Synapticure employs clinicians for telehealth management during any or all of the phases of Alzheimer’s disease care, including diagnosis, treatment and monitoring, Lilly said.
Its telehealth capabilities include live video visits, broad insurance coverage, prior authorization support, 24-hour access when needed, ongoing medication and care management, and behavioral health and lifestyle support.
(Reporting By Deena Beasley; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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