A simple tweak in available vial sizes of the breakthrough Alzheimer's drug Leqembi could save Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars each year, a new analysis claims.

New research suggests that Medicare could save up to 74 percent of the money lost from discarded Alzheimer's drug Leqembi or lecanemab by simply introducing a new vial size that would reduce the amount of unused medication thrown away.

It is imperative to reduce spending on services that do not improve the health of patients, and this is a prime example of such, given that Medicare is paying for a drug only t

Medicare could save millions of dollars every year by changing the way they package Alzheimer's medication. Alzheimer's affects roughly 5.8 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Medicare could be throwing away as much as $336 million worth of a costly Alzheimer's drug each year because the size of vials is too big, UCLA researchers estimate. Why it matters: The findings, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine,