LillyDirect platform expands to facilitate access to Alzheimer's disease care

New tools to connect with independent in-person and telehealth providers specializing in Alzheimer's disease are designed to increase capacity and reduce delays in diagnosis

INDIANAPOLIS, March 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) has expanded its LillyDirect digital healthcare platform to offer connections to independent in-person and telehealth options for people in the U.S. living with Alzheimer's disease, the majority of whom have not been formally diagnosed.¹

Both clinicians and people living with Alzheimer's disease have expressed the need to increase the capacity of our health care systems to diagnose and manage more of the nearly 7 million Americans living with the disease.² Many patients face prolonged wait times to see a dementia specialist. These wait times are predicted to rise to more than 1 year in 2025 and can be even longer for people who live in rural and medically underserved areas.³ Nearly 1 in 5 Medicare beneficiaries drive more than 50 miles each way to see a neurologist.⁴ As a consequence, it can take 2 years or more after the onset of symptoms for a patient to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.⁵ 

Timely diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease with the aid of biomarker tests is critical to help patients and families manage the complications of this disease. More treatment options are potentially available for people diagnosed in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Once individuals progress to moderate or severe dementia, treatment options are more limited, and patients experience greater dependence on others. It is estimated that as many as 3,000 Americans with Alzheimer's disease progress from the mild stage of disease to the moderate or severe stages every day.⁶

"We know that early diagnosis and care can make a big difference for people living with Alzheimer's disease. By expanding this platform, we hope to help patients identify and access additional independent specialty care capacity, which can coordinate with a patient's existing care team," said David Hyman, MD, Lilly's chief medical officer. "The addition of Alzheimer's disease to LillyDirect reaffirms our commitment to empower patients to locate the care that is right for them when they need it."

In contrast to other conditions on LillyDirect, the Alzheimer's disease resources will not include mail order pharmacy options to Lilly medicines. Instead, they will focus on education and pathways to connect people to independent provider options.

LillyDirect now offers these new connections to independent in-person and telehealth options designed to help people experiencing memory and thinking issues to overcome barriers to diagnosis and care:

• Healthgrades, an independent doctor locator tool, helps people quickly identify local office-based clinicians who have experience managing patients with Alzheimer's disease and using appropriate biomarker tests to help make timely and accurate diagnoses.
  
  
  
  
• An option to connect to Synapticure, an independent provider specializing in neurodegenerative care, including Alzheimer's disease. Lilly will continue to evaluate additional providers for inclusion as patient options for this condition in the future.
  
  
  
  
• Lilly continues to offer disease state education for people with memory concerns via MoreThanNormalAging.com, including an overview of Alzheimer's disease, from recognizing signs to the importance of early diagnosis and starting the conversation with a provider.

Healthgrades

The independent doctor locator tool on LillyDirect will allow patients to identify office-based clinicians in a patient's local area who have experience diagnosing and managing patients with Alzheimer's disease. The search tool offers multiple filtering and sorting options, allowing users to find specialized health care providers within the database who meet their specific needs.

Synapticure

The inclusion of telehealth providers as independent care options on LillyDirect is the result of an extensive multi-disciplinary evaluation process, which uses a rigorous set of criteria to offer connections to high-quality, comprehensive care by an experienced care team.

Synapticure employs a team of clinicians to offer management during any or all of the phases of Alzheimer's disease care, including diagnosis, treatment and monitoring. Its telehealth capabilities include live video visits, broad insurance coverage, prior authorization support, 24-hour access when needed, ongoing medication and care management, and behavioral health and lifestyle support. Synapticure refers patients to diagnostic tests performed in health care facilities, and in cases of emergencies, its staff stay on the phone with patients until they reach a hospital emergency room to ensure coordination of care.

Synapticure commits to a connection with a care navigator within approximately two days of a patient inquiry and an appointment with a neurologist experienced in Alzheimer's care in about two weeks.

"As a caregiver of someone with a neurodegenerative condition, I helped start Synapticure to ensure that patients receive timely and accurate diagnoses, as well as ongoing support and treatment," said Sandra Abrevaya, CEO of Synapticure. "We are excited to be added to LillyDirect as a patient option for comprehensive telehealth services for Alzheimer's patients, especially those in rural and underserved communities. By leveraging our experienced team of clinicians and advanced telehealth capabilities, we aim to provide hope and help for patients and their families."

For more information on the LillyDirect Alzheimer's resources and to access these new tools, visit lillydirect.lilly.com. LillyDirect has expanded its services internationally, beginning with Australia and plans to expand to more markets this year. In Australia, LillyDirect offers consumers access to empowering disease-state resources, independent health care professionals, and general health and well-being resources. These options help consumers succeed in their care journeys. Outside the U.S., the LillyDirect experience does not provide information about Lilly medicines.

About Lilly

Lilly is a medicine company turning science into healing to make life better for people around the world. We've been pioneering life-changing discoveries for nearly 150 years, and today our medicines help tens of millions of people across the globe. Harnessing the power of biotechnology, chemistry and genetic medicine, our scientists are urgently advancing new discoveries to solve some of the world's most significant health challenges: redefining diabetes care; treating obesity and curtailing its most devastating long-term effects; advancing the fight against Alzheimer's disease; providing solutions to some of the most debilitating immune system disorders; and transforming the most difficult-to-treat cancers into manageable diseases. With each step toward a healthier world, we're motivated by one thing: making life better for millions more people. That includes delivering innovative clinical trials that reflect the diversity of our world and working to ensure our medicines are accessible and affordable. To learn more, visit Lilly.com and Lilly.com/news, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. P-LLY

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All trademarks or trade names referred to in this press release are the property of the company, or, to the extent trademarks or trade names belonging to other companies are references in this press release, the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, the trademarks and trade names in this press release are referred to without the ® and ™ symbols, but such references should not be construed as any indicator that the company or, to the extent applicable, their respective owners will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, the company's or their rights thereto. We do not intend the use or display of other companies' trademarks and trade names to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.

© Lilly USA, LLC 2024. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements (as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) about Kisunla (donanemab-azbt) as a treatment for people with early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease, Kisunla dosing regimens and the prevalence of ARIA-E, and future readouts, presentations, and other milestones relating to Kisunla and reflects Lilly's current beliefs and expectations. However, as with any pharmaceutical product, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in the process of drug research, development, and commercialization. Among other things, there is no guarantee that planned or ongoing studies will be completed as planned, that future study results will be consistent with study findings to date, that Kisunla will receive additional regulatory approvals or that Kisunla will be commercially successful. For further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, see Lilly's Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.

References 

1. Lang L, Clifford A, Wei L, Zhang D, Leung D, Augustine G, Danat IM, Zhou W, Copeland JR, Anstey KJ, Chen R. Prevalence and determinants of undetected dementia in the community: a systematic literature review and a meta-analysis. BMJ Open. 2017 Feb 3;7(2):e011146. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011146. PMID: 28159845; PMCID: PMC5293981.
2. 2024 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures. Alzheimers Dement. 2024 May;20(5):3708-3821. doi: 10.1002/alz.13809. Epub 2024 Apr 30. PMID: 38689398; PMCID: PMC11095490.
3. Jodi L. Liu, Lawrence Baker, Annie Chen, Jessie Wang, Federico Girosi. Detection and Geographic Variation in Health System Capacity for Alzheimer's Disease–Modifying Therapies. Rand Corp. Jan 30, 2024: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA2600/RRA2643-1/RAND_RRA2643-1.pdf.
4. Lin CC, Hill CE, Kerber KA, Burke JF, Skolarus LE, Esper GJ, de Havenon A, De Lott LB, Callaghan BC. Patient Travel Distance to Neurologist Visits. Neurology. 2023 Oct 31;101(18):e1807-e1820. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000207810. Epub 2023 Sep 13. PMID: 37704403; PMCID: PMC10634641.
5. Ritchie CW, Black CM, Khandker RK, et al. Quantifying the Diagnostic Pathway for Patients with Cognitive Impairment: Real-World Data from Seven European and North American Countries. J Alzheimers Dis. 2018;62(1):457-466. doi:10.3233/JAD-170864.
6. Naber J. Alzheimer's disease severity progression: Prevalent population estimates over time. Milliman. 2023 June 2: https://www.milliman.com/-/media/milliman/pdfs/2023-articles/6-5-23_ad-severity-progression-population-estimates.ashx?la=en&hash=D0C2DC7D20AFE3C8E5DA8678FE0B1A07.

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