Butler Memorial Hospital

GREENSBURG, Westmoreland County — A renewed sense of hope is on the way for those individuals and their loved ones in Butler County who suffer from dementia symptoms and Alzheimer’s disease.

Independence Health System, with neurologists from both Butler Memorial and Westmoreland hospitals, announced Wednesday, Aug. 7, the availability of new medications that aim to help patients manage symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Neurologists and care providers in the Independence system began to offer two new infusion-based medicines in December, health system officials said during a news conference at the Westmoreland facility.

To date, more than 30 patients have begun the new immunotherapy infusions, or are working up to the treatment process in either Butler or Greensburg.

Some of the early research published about the novel medicines lecanemab and donanemab-azbt, known by their label names Leqembi and Kisunla, respectively, shows the treatments go beyond dealing with symptoms, and are thought to address the underlying causes of the disease, which affects about 7 million Americans, according to the nonprofit Alzheimer’s Foundation.

“These are medications that are shown not only to slow the disease, but to change the entire trajectory and force of this disease over time for each patient,” said Dr. Mary Elizabeth Kovacik Eicher, director of neurosciences for Independence Health System.

The infusions attack the amyloid beta peptides believed to be responsible for a toxic buildup that causes damage to brain cells and manifests in dementia symptoms and Alzheimer’s disease, she said.

“I can’t tell you what a miracle it is to be sitting in front of a patient and to have their family tell me they’re the same, that things aren’t worse,” Kovacik Eicher said. “It’s incredible because, for so long, there was not hope that I could give. There was a ‘maybe.’”

Patients receive only one of the medicines at a time.

Leqembi, released in 2023, is an infusion therapy to be administered every two weeks, with sessions lasting one hour. Kisunla, released in July, is a once-monthly infusion that takes 30 minutes to administer and another 30 minutes for monitoring. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medicines are covered under most health insurance plans, officials said.

After diagnosis, patients are brought into the program at one of Independence Health’s Memory Care Clinics. Infusions can be received at either Butler Memorial or Westmoreland hospitals.

Kovacik Eicher stressed Independence Health’s commitment to both innovation and patient safety, citing a now discontinued infusion-based drug released in 2021 which the system was hesitant to offer due to its 44% likelihood of causing serious complications.

“We educated our patients about it, we told them about it, but not many wanted to take on that risk, understandably,” Kovacik Eicher said.

Around 12 patients are currently receiving the immunotherapy treatments. A team of physician assistants, radiologists and neurologists follow up with wellness calls, in-person visits, and testing, namely brain imaging scans, once the therapy is underway, officials said.

Not all dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, but Kovacik Eicher said as many as 60% to 70% of those who do experience memory loss, a personality change, or a generalized feeling that something is “off,” do have Alzheimer’s.

The disease is detected by either a lumbar puncture or PET scan. But Kovacik Eicher said a third detection method could open up testing to more individuals.

“Blood tests (to detect the Alzheimer’s disease) will be very exciting because I think it will open new avenues of treatment, and I think more patients will be willing to have blood tests done,” Kovacik Eicher said.

The Associated Press has reported several companies are considering seeking FDA approval for blood tests, but none has gone through the process.

The detection of amyloid in a patient makes them eligible for the infusion treatment. Physicians Kiran Patil and Nikita Urval oversee the Memory Clinic in the Butler area. Initial testing is available by calling 724-431-1613, option 2.

Urval, hired by Independence Healthcare System last fall, said there is a shortage of neurologists in the area and saw the need to “get the word out” about the program.

“I always tell my patients that my main goal for them is to keep them doing the things that they want to do for as long as they can safely,” Urval said. “And the fact that now we have these new medications that can do exactly that — help them do the things that they want to do for a longer period of time — is just so incredibly exciting and just empowering for us as physicians, for the patients, for the whole community.”