Proponents who supported the cost of getting Decry approved
Aducanumab had a rocky road to approval but was steadfastly supported by the Alzheimer’s Association and at least one other organization, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s.
The Alzheimer’s Association has been particularly open in its support and, Medscape reported in March, has been accused by public citizens and several neurologists of a possible conflict of interest because the association has accepted at least $ 1.4 million from Biogen and its partner Eisai since the fiscal year had 2018.
The association welcomed the FDA approval, but a few days later expressed outrage at the $ 56,000-a-year price tag.
“That price is just unacceptable,” the Alzheimer’s Association said in the statement. “For many, this award will represent an insurmountable barrier to access, it will make sustainable access to this treatment difficult and at risk, and it can further deepen the problems of health justice.
UsAgainstAlzheimer also raised concerns about access before the price of aducanumab was known.
@Public_Citizen tells the #FDA: Aducanumab has not been shown to be effective. . . Also, #Biogen plans to charge such an absurd amount that it could overwhelm Medicare. Meanwhile, millions of #Alzheimer’s patients and their families are given false hopes.
– KY4singlepayer (@ ky4singlepayer) June 9, 2021
“Terrifyingly, Medicare does not reimburse patients for the expensive PET scans, which are essential to determining if someone is eligible for this drug,” said George Vradenburg, chairman and co-founder of the group, in a June 7 statement. “We intend to work with Biogen and Medicare to make this drug affordable for every American who needs it.”
Public Citizen’s Carome said the lawyers’ complaints were difficult to read.
“That shouldn’t have come as a surprise,” he told Medscape. “It’s essentially the standard character that the company kicked out weeks ago.”
At $ 56,000 a year, aducanumab is “hugely overpriced for a drug that doesn’t work,” Carome said [Alzheimer’s Association] that finds it really reprehensible, hopefully they will not accept any more money from Biogen and his partner Eisai. “
Another advocacy group, Patients for Affordable Drugs, praised the Alzheimer’s Association. His statement “was downright bold, especially given the Alzheimer’s Association’s reliance on funding from drug companies, including Biogen,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs, in a statement.
Mitchell said its members “stand with the Alzheimer’s Association in their denunciation of the price set by Biogen” and called for a new law that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
Alicia Ault is a freelance journalist based in Lutherville, Maryland whose work has appeared in publications such as Smithsonian.com, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. You can find her on Twitter @aliciaault.
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