--- title: The VA Will Pay for Some to Get New Alzheimer’s Drug description: It's a move toward broader coverage of the controversial drug category. canonical: https://time.com/6262446/new-alzheimers-drug-leqembi-va/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-03-13T19:22:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T15:34:20.953Z article:section: Health og:title: The VA Will Pay for Some to Get New Alzheimer’s Drug og:description: It's a move toward broader coverage of the controversial drug category og:url: https://time.com/6262446/new-alzheimers-drug-leqembi-va/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99d32cdf0932ea91/698a394c096a940f186ad61c/2022.09.17_LEQEMBI_B1_White.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: leqembi-eisai og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The VA Will Pay for Some to Get New Alzheimer’s Drug twitter:description: It's a move toward broader coverage of the controversial drug category twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99d32cdf0932ea91/698a394c096a940f186ad61c/2022.09.17_LEQEMBI_B1_White.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The VA Will Pay for Some to Get New Alzheimer’s Drug by [John Tozzi and Robert Langreth/Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## John Tozzi and Robert Langreth/Bloomberg Mar 13, 2023 7:22 PM UTC  Eisai Inc. by [John Tozzi and Robert Langreth/Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## John Tozzi and Robert Langreth/Bloomberg Mar 13, 2023 7:22 PM UTC The U.S. Veterans Health Administration will pay for some beneficiaries to get a [new Alzheimer’s disease drug](https://time.com/6244798/fda-approves-lecanemab-alzheimers-drug/) from Eisai Co. and Biogen Inc., a move toward [broader coverage of the controversial drug category](https://time.com/6244798/fda-approves-lecanemab-alzheimers-drug/). The VA added Leqembi, which received accelerated approval from the Food and Drug Administration in January, to its list of nonformulary drugs. Patients who want to take the drug would have to request it and receive prior approval and meet stringent inclusion criteria, according to the VA [website](https://www.va.gov/formularyadvisor/DOC%5FPDF/CFU%5FLecanemab-irmb%5FLEQEMBI%5FCFU.pdf). **Read More**: [_A New Alzheimer’s Drug Gave Patients Hope. Millions Can’t Get It_](https://time.com/6244798/fda-approves-lecanemab-alzheimers-drug/) Leqembi is the first drug shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, which robs patients of memories and other brain functions, and Eisai has said that it expects revenue from it to reach $7.3 billion in 2030\. The drug rids the brain of abnormal protein, called amyloid, that has been linked to the lethal disease. Health officials tightly restricted payment for a similar drug, Biogen’s Aduhelm, after it received accelerated approval, saying data hadn’t sufficiently shown it was effective. The FDA declined to give early approval to another amyloid-fighting drug, Eli Lilly & Co.’s donanemab, in January. The VA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. _—With assistance from Angelica Peebles._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6262446/new-alzheimers-drug-leqembi-va/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6262446/new-alzheimers-drug-leqembi-va/"},"headline":"The VA Will Pay for Some to Get New Alzheimer’s Drug","datePublished":"2023-03-13T19:22:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T15:34:20.953Z","description":"It's a move toward broader coverage of the controversial drug category.","url":"https://time.com/6262446/new-alzheimers-drug-leqembi-va/","keywords":["Drugs","wire","healthscienceclimate","bloomberg wire"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99d32cdf0932ea91/698a394c096a940f186ad61c/2022.09.17_LEQEMBI_B1_White.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"John Tozzi and Robert Langreth/Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99d32cdf0932ea91/698a394c096a940f186ad61c/2022.09.17_LEQEMBI_B1_White.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"leqembi-eisai","caption":"leqembi-eisai","creditText":"Eisai Inc.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/drugs/","name":"Drugs"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6262446/new-alzheimers-drug-leqembi-va/","name":"The VA Will Pay for Some to Get New Alzheimer’s Drug"}}]}] ```