An Alzheimer’s breakthrough decades in the making

The FDA approves the first drug to demonstrably slow Alzheimer’s disease; the Biden administration is sending cluster bombs to Ukraine.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

A new Alzheimer's treatment is (finally) here

Michael Robinson Chávez/The Washington Post via Getty Images

• On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to lecanemab (brand name Leqembi), the first drug proven to slow cognitive decline for people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. [Associated Press / Matthew Perrone]
• During clinical trials of roughly 1,800 patients, lecanemab slowed the decline in cognitive ability by 27 percent over 18 months. [NBC News / Berkeley Lovelace Jr.]
• The approval means Medicare will cover 80 percent of the $26,500 annual costs for traditional patients, but the remaining costs may still be too high for some. [CNN]
• The medication will carry the FDA’s most urgent warning label because of the risk of potentially life-threatening brain bleeding and swelling for some patients. Patients will have to undergo significant testing before and during treatment. [USA Today / Ken Alltucker]
• Some experts are unsure if the effects will be noticeable enough to warrant the risk for the 1.5 million patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and their families. [New York Times / Pam Belluck]
• Despite logistical challenges to administering the drug, FDA approval is a significant step for patients searching for an effective Alzheimer’s treatment. [Vox / Dylan Scott]

📍 If you read just one story

Vox’s Rebecca Jennings explains why Instagram's Threads won't be able to compete with Twitter in its current form. [Vox / Rebecca Jennings]

Cluster munitions for Ukraine

• On Friday, President Joe Biden’s administration announced a controversial plan to send Ukraine cluster bombs to boost its counteroffensive against Russia. [Vox / Jen Kirby]

• Cluster munitions break into smaller bomblets that can inflict widespread damage — and can accidentally kill civilians in densely populated areas. The move has rasied concerns from human rights groups. [Guardian / Léonie Chao-Fong]

• Over 120 countries joined an effective ban on cluster munitions over the long-term threat that unexploded cluster bombs carry for civilians. The US, Ukraine, and Russia have not joined the treaty. [AP]

• After initially resisting calls from Ukraine, the US is set to deliver the bombs as part of an $800 million military package that will also supply tanks and other weapons. [BBC / Madeline Halpert]

The first five months of the Justice Department’s investigations into Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and mishandling classified documents cost $5.4 million. [USA Today / Bart Jansen]

• The creator of HBO’s The Wire and friends of star Michael K. Williams are asking a judge for leniency in sentencing the man who sold the late actor a fatal dose of fentanyl in 2021. [NYT / Benjamin Wiser]
• The Republican attorney general of Kansas is suing to prevent the state from allowing transgender people to change their gender on driver’s licenses. [AP / John Hanna]
• The US added 209,000 jobs in June amid a cooling of the economy, fueling hope that the Federal Reserve could soon stop hiking interest rates. [CNN / Alicia Wallace]

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“I’d much rather be in this place than where things were two or three years ago. This is what we’ve been waiting for for decades.”

[Dr. Jason Karlawish, co-director of the Penn Memory Center, on lecanemab / Vox]

Where's the beef?

A rancher in the Pacific Northwest scammed two companies out of $244 million. In this episode we first served in February, KUOW’s Anna King — host of the Ghost Herd podcast — explains how Cody Easterday went from ranching royalty to prison.

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