The U.S. Medicare program finalized a plan to only pay for Biogen Inc.’s Alzheimer’s therapy when it’s used in approved clinical trials, while offering a road map to cover drugs that do show clinical benefit in the disease.
The decision announced Thursday will effectively prevent most Alzheimer’s patients from receiving Biogen’s Aduhelm. They can pay for the drug on their own while federal authorities collect more evidence on the balance of risks and benefits. But Aduhelm’s price tag of roughly $28,200 a year is likely to limit interest.
It’s a blow to Biogen, biotech lobbyists and patient groups who have been campaigning for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reverse its stance since the initial coverage proposal was announced in January. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said in a research note Tuesday that keeping the Medicare restrictions largely in place would likely spark “significant cost-cutting measures that may spell the end of Aduhelm.”
Biogen stock has given up all of its gains — and then some — since the Food and Drug Administration’s surprising approval of Aduhelm last June.
