Drugmaker Biogen made a stunning announcement: It is going to cut in half the price of its controversial Alzheimer’s drug
In part, the reluctance of physicians was due to price. But it also was because of the uncertainty of the drug’s clinical benefits, the risk of some dangerous side effects, and the likelihood that even if Aduhelm is beneficial, it would help only those with early-stage disease. There is no evidence it would benefit people with more advanced Alzheimer’s or those with other dementias.
Most important, there is the open question about whether Medicare or private insurers will pay for the drug at all.process to decide whether, and under what circumstances, it will pay for Aduhelm. That decision is expected in the Spring. The coverage review is not supposed to consider price. But reducing costs surely won’t hurt Biogen’s chances for getting Medicare coverage.
And there may be one other key reason Biogen is cutting prices. Competitors may be about to enter the market with similar drugs. The news sitethat Eli Lilly plans to request FDA approval for its own, similar Alzheimer’s drug donanemab by March 2022. Interestingly, the two drugs will be pitted against one another in a head-to-head trial. And we’ll see those results at the end of 2022.
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