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Biogen to cut price of Alzheimer’s drug by half

Lawmakers complained cost was too high and benefits uncertain, leading to slower-than-expected sales

The EU’s drug regulator last week rejected the marketing application for Aduhelm. Photograph: Cody O’Loughlin/The New York Times

Mon Dec 20 2021 - 13:25

Biogen said on Monday it would slash the price of its Alzheimer’s disease drug by about 50 per cent after hospitals and lawmakers complained that its cost was too high and its benefits uncertain, leading to slower-than-expected sales in the United States.

The drug, Aduhelm, became the first new treatment for the memory-robbing disease in nearly 20 years, after US regulators cleared it in June despite questions over the drug’s effectiveness. The European Union’s drug regulator last week rejected the marketing application for Aduhelm, after a panel voted against the treatment in November.

The $56,000 (€49,680) per year treatment will now cost $28,200 per patient annually, Biogen said.

The company has been banking on Aduhelm to buffer a hit to its main revenue drivers facing rising competition, but the drug faces slow uptake as several commercial insurers wait for further direction from Medicare before covering the drug.

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“We are big fans of Biogen’s decision to cut the price of Aduhelm, and, in our view, this makes some level of reasonable Medicare reimbursement more likely,” said Stifel analyst Paul Matteis.

The US government’s Medicare programme for people aged 65 and older has raised the 2022 monthly premiums that seniors must pay for the health plan because of Aduhelm. It is set to announce a national policy on the use of the drug in January.

Biogen said with insurance coverage, and access to diagnostics and specialized centres, roughly 50,000 patients may initiate treatment with the Aduhelm in 2022.

It also announced a series of cost-reduction measures in 2022, which it estimates will result in $500 million in annualised savings. – Reuters

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