KU researchers publish specialized clinic model to fast-track access to new Alzheimer’s drugs

Researchers at the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center have created a specialized clinic model to expedite the safe use of new Alzheimer’s drugs and usher in a new era of Alzheimer’s treatment. Their work was recently published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

In 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first new drug in nearly 20 years to treat Alzheimer’s disease. It was also the first drug ever approved to slow the disease’s progression, rather than just manage symptoms, by removing the build-up of a sticky protein in the brain known as amyloid. Two such amyloid-clearing drugs are now on the market for people with early-stage Alzheimer’s: Leqembi (lecanemab) and Kisunla (donanemab).

“There are going to be a lot more people who want to know if they are a candidate (for these drugs), and there are going to be a lot more people who need to be treated,” said Jeffrey Burns, M.D., co-director of the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. “And we need a new system for that.”

By 2060, the number of Americans aged 65 and older with Alzheimer’s is projected to reach 13.8 million, according to a 2025 report by the Alzheimer’s Association, which means that the need for Alzheimer’s treatment is only going to increase. But successfully implementing these new medications for patients who could benefit is going to be much more complex than just more doctors writing prescriptions.

The drugs come with risks, and they help only those who are in the disease’s early stages and have amyloid plaques in the brain, making it critical to identify patients who could benefit from an anti-amyloid drug before it’s too late for it to be effective. “We don’t want to miss that window,” said Burns. “And we don't think that the standard memory clinic is the model to meet the needs of these anti-amyloid drugs. So we created a new pathway.”

That pathway, their clinic model, is based on the KU Anti-Amyloid Treatment Clinic (KU-AATC), a specialized clinic Burns and his colleagues developed with The University of Kansas Health System to increase access to the amyloid-clearing medications. Established in 2023, the KU-AATC sees patients referred by primary care physicians, geriatricians and general neurologists both from within and outside the KU Health System, evaluates each patient through a battery of testing to ensure that these medications are an appropriate option and if so, manages both the prescriptions and enhanced safety monitoring that is required.

Burns noted that because Alzheimer’s is a complex disease, multidisciplinary teams are critical to this clinic model. The KU-AATC includes board-certified neurologists, an advanced practice nurse practitioner trained in dementia evaluation, an infusion team, a neuropsychologist, a psychometrist, nurses, care navigators and a clinic manager.

­That team manages the selection, treatment and monitoring of these patients, which is complicated. These medications must be administered by intravenous infusion every two or four weeks, which necessitates­­­ close follow-up that includes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and requires prior authorizations from insurers.

The KU-AATC also shortens diagnostic processes, enabling patients to get testing earlier, rather than having to wait several months between different types. “Basically (we have) a trained, set group of people that condense the workup process to where it doesn't take months,” said Katelynn Kreszyn, MSN, the advanced practice nurse practitioner at KU-AATC. “It has to be determined that a patient is a good candidate (for the drug) in a very small window, because the more mild the memory symptoms, the more likely (the patient will) benefit from the drug.”

The researchers believe that the infrastructure and processes in their dedicated clinic model can be used by other health care systems that are trying to meet the demand for the new Alzheimer’s treatments. The recent journal article outlined the process in detail so that other health systems and academic medical centers could benefit.

“The challenge is getting the right diagnosis and making the right decision, and that requires the expertise we've assembled,” said Burns. “We’re trying to make it more accessible. That's really the bottom line.“