Latest news with #Biogen-Eisai
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Hindustan Times
No Alzheimer's Drug for Old Men?
Increasing evidence shows that anti-amyloid Alzheimer's treatments can slow disease progression and give patients years more of quality time with loved ones. So will the Trump Administration at long last drop the Biden rules that restrict access to these medicines? Two studies presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference last week show that the benefits of amyloid-clearing monoclonal antibodies by Eli Lilly and Biogen-Eisai grow over time. The drugs slowed cognitive decline in clinical trials used for Food and Drug Administration approval by some 25% to 36% over 18 months. In follow-up studies, these benefits doubled at three years for Lilly's treatment and roughly quadrupled over four years for Biogen-Eisai's. That's great news for patients. The findings are especially notable because critics argued for limiting Medicare coverage of the drugs on grounds that their benefits might not be durable. They dismissed the entire class of anti-amyloid drugs because earlier experimental treatments failed in trials. But trial and error often lead to discovery. Roche last week presented promising trial data on its experimental amyloid-clearing antibody. Roche and other drug makers also plan to test whether such treatments can prevent Alzheimer's. In an unprecedented move, the Biden Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2022 restricted access to all anti-amyloid drugs approved by the FDA because it wasn't convinced they were 'reasonable and necessary.' As a result, Alzheimer's patients who want the treatments—and doctors who want to prescribe them—must jump through bureaucratic hoops. The Biden CMS claimed such restrictions were necessary to obtain more evidence of treatment benefits, though the agency had never before limited access in this way for an FDA-approved drug. Seventy-four House Members, including 38 Democrats, in 2023 urged CMS to remove its restrictions. As did 23 state Attorneys General. Medicare's coverage restrictions create 'a barrier to care for older Americans, especially individuals living in rural and underserved areas,' the AGs wrote. The Biden CMS remained unmoved. The new studies provide more evidence and cause for CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz to reverse course. Alzheimer's patients deserve a right to try too.
Wall Street Journal
4 days ago
- Health
- Wall Street Journal
No Alzheimer's Drug for Old Men?
Increasing evidence shows that anti-amyloid Alzheimer's treatments can slow disease progression and give patients years more of quality time with loved ones. So will the Trump Administration at long last drop the Biden rules that restrict access to these medicines? Two studies presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference last week show that the benefits of amyloid-clearing monoclonal antibodies by Eli Lilly and Biogen-Eisai grow over time. The drugs slowed cognitive decline in clinical trials used for Food and Drug Administration approval by some 25% to 36% over 18 months. In follow-up studies, these benefits doubled at three years for Lilly's treatment and roughly quadrupled over four years for Biogen-Eisai's. That's great news for patients.
