Plan to limit Medicare coverage of Aduhelm to patients who are enrolled in clinical trials is needlessly restrictive.
A recent proposal that Medicare only cover Aduhelm (aducanumab) for patients with Alzheimer’s disease who are enrolled in clinical trials is needlessly restrictive, and will prevent many people from accessing a medication that may be able to help them.
An argument made by Jeffrey Cummings, MD, a professor of brain health at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Cummings’s paper, “Public Policy Should Foster Alzheimer’s Treatment Availability: Comment on the Draft US Medicare Decision to Limit Payment for Aducanumab (Aduhelm) to Patients Participating in Clinical Trials,” was published in The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Aduhelm is an antibody-based therapy designed to clear the brain of irregular clumps of amyloid plaque proteins that are believed to contribute to Alzheimer’s progression. Co-developed by Biogen and Eisai, the therapy received accelerated approval in June 2021 from the FDA, which quickly amended its decision to specify that the medication should only be used in early disease. The approval has been highly contentious, prompting members of an FDA advisory committee to resign and sparking a congressional inquiry.
See-J. Cummings (2022): "Public Policy Should Foster Alzheimer’s Treatment Availability: Comment on the Draft US Medicare Decision to Limit Payment for Aducanumab (Aduhelm) to Patients Participating in Clinical Trials". The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease (JPAD). http://dx.doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2022.25.
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