Dec 17 (Reuters) - China's medical regulator has

approved Eli Lilly's ( LLY ) treatment for early Alzheimer's,

providing patients with another option after Eisai ( ESALF ) and

Biogen's Leqembi received approval in January, the

company said late on Tuesday.

China is the fourth major market in which the treatment,

sold under the brand name Kisunla, has received approval after

the United States, Japan and the UK, Lilly said in a statement.

Like Leqembi, Lilly's Kisunla is designed to clear an

Alzheimer's-related protein called beta-amyloid from the brain.

In a large, late-stage trial, Kisunla slowed the progression of

memory and thinking problems by 29% compared with a placebo. It

also caused brain swelling in nearly a quarter of patients and

brain bleeding in nearly a third, but most cases were mild.

Kisunla is sold with the FDA's strongest "boxed" safety

warning on its prescribing label in the U.S., flagging the risk

of potentially dangerous brain swelling and bleeding, similar to

Leqembi.

However, starting on a more gradual dosing schedule of Kisunla

cut the percentage of patients experiencing potentially serious

brain swelling, the company said.

Additionally, unlike Leqembi, Kisunla has finite dosing,

which allows patients to stop taking the treatment once brain

scans no longer show amyloid plaques.

The treatment is currently under review by the European

Union's drugs regulator. The body in July rejected Leqembi,

saying the risk of serious brain swelling did not outweigh its

small impact on slowing cognitive decline.

Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia and accounts

for about 60%-70% of the cases, according to the World Health

Organization.