Aduhelm Price Cut May Help Pave The Way For Medicare National Coverage Determination

Biogen, Inc. has slashed the price of its Alzheimer’s disease therapy Aduhelm in half the month before the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is expected to issue a draft national coverage determination (NCD) decision on amyloid-clearing antibody therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. The move may be designed to reassure government officials about any potential impact of coverage as much as it intended to improve the prospects of the troubled product in the commercial market.

Aduhelm’s original price of $56,000 a year was among the aspects of the June approval that critics seized on (along with the expansive label and long horizon for confirmatory data) to charge that FDA was allowing an expensive product with