Since Leqembi is dosed based on a patient’s weight and offered in single-use vials, about 5.8% of the drug dispensed will be unused and discarded, according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. That could result in $133 million to $336 million in waste per year for Medicare, the study found.

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.

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,

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.