Medicare Limits Coverage of $28,000-A-Year Alzheimer’s Drug

For Medicare to pay, patients taking Biogen’s Aduhelm medication will have to be part of clinical trials to assess the drug’s effectiveness.

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FILE - The Biogen Inc., headquarters is shown March 11, 2020, in Cambridge, Mass. Medicare says it will limit coverage of a $28,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug whose benefits have been widely questioned. Tuesday's decision from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is a major step in the nation’s search for ways to put a fair value on new medicines that offer tantalizing possibilities but come with prohibitive prices. It means that patients taking Biogen’s Aduhelm medication will have to be part of research efforts to assess the drug’s effectiveness in slowing the progression of dementia. The drug has sparked controversy since its approval by the Food and Drug Administration last June, which came against the recommendation of the agency’s outside advisers (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
Image via AP Photo/Steven Senne

This article was republished here with permission from The Associated Press, however it is no longer available to read on Snopes.com.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare said Tuesday it will limit coverage of a $28,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug whose benefits have been widely questioned, a major development in the nation’s tug-of-war over the fair value of new medicines that offer tantalizing possibilities but come with prohibitive prices. The initial determination from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services means that for Medicare to pay, patients taking Biogen’s Aduhelm medication will have to be part of clinical trials to…

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