Living with Alzheimer’s Disease… the Long Quest For A Cure

“For most of the 20th century, Alzheimer’s Disease of forgetting was a forgotten disease.” Dr. Gil Rabinovici, UCSF

IN THE NEWS:

Biogen’s Alzheimer’s Disease Drug’s Dashed Hopes

The FDA approved Aduhelm in June 2021. But it’s been a rough journey for Aduhelm since and the controversy continues.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, in his resignation letter in protest to the approval of ADUHELM, an outside adviser to the FDA stated that it’s “probably the worst drug approval decision in recent U.S. history.” The same article quotes a financial analyst who called Aduhelm “potentially the worst drug launch of all time” in terms of sales.

And according to the New York Times, because CMS — the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — is unsure about the potential benefits of Aduhelm versus its safety risks for patients, Medicare has limited coverage of this expensive drug to only patients that participate in approved clinical trials — meaning Aduhelm has a very small market.

To understand what happened with Biogen’s Aduhelm’s development and approval, and to better understand the history of Alzheimer’s…