BIG PHARMA WATCH: HEADLINES SHOW BIOGEN ADHUHELM PRICING HAS REIGNITED URGENCY TO HOLD BIG PHARMA ACCOUNTABLE

Coverage Highlights Backlash Over Massive Price Tag for Unproven Treatment, Cost to Taxpayers and Health System

Earlier this month, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved brand name drug maker Biogen’s Alzheimer’s treatment aducanumab, brand name Aduhelm, despite serious questions about the medication’s clinical benefit for patients and zero votes in favor of approval from the agency’s expert advisory panel.

Biogen subsequently set a massive launch price of $56,000 on the drug for an annual course of treatment.

Prior to Aduhelm’s approval, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) concluded a fair annual price for the drug, barring major new evidence to support the drug’s efficacy, would fall between $2,500 and $8,300. ICER estimates that at the drug’s current price, Biogen will stand to make more than $50 billion in annual profit from the drug.

The controversial FDA approval and resulting Big Pharma pricing of this unproven treatment have sparked broad-based backlash and increased the momentum in Washington to hold brand name drug companies accountable.

Here are some of the recent headlines generated by the Aduhelm firestorm:

Big Pharma’s Egregious Pricing

• Aduhelm, The New $56,000 Alzheimer’s Drug, Is More Expensive Than You Think. Here’s Why. – USA Today, 6/22/21
• New Alzheimer’s Treatment Aduhelm May Be Too Costly For Many Seniors, Deepening Inequities – The Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/16/21
• Biogen CEO Says $56,000 Annually For Alzheimer’s Drug Is ‘Fair,’ Promises Not To Hike Price For At Least 4 Years – CNBC, 6/7/21
• Biogen’s Shockingly Broad Aduhelm Label—And $56K Price—Set Up A $10B Launch, Analysts Say – Fierce Pharma, 6/7/21
• ‘Simply Unacceptable’: Alzheimer’s Association Blasts Biogen Over The Price Of Its New Medicine – STAT News, 6/12/21
• Biogen’s $56,000-A-Year Alzheimer’s Drug Reignites US Debate Over Costs – Financial Times, 6/8/21

Burden on Taxpayers, Health Care System

• New Drug Could Cost the Government as Much as It Spends on NASA – The New York Times, 6/22/21
• Approval Of Controversial $56,000 Alzheimer’s Treatment Could Add $57 Billion To Federal Spending – The Washington Examiner, 6/16/21
• Alzheimer’s Drug Is Bonanza for Biogen, Most Likely at Taxpayer Expense – The New York Times, 6/10/21
• New Alzheimer’s Drug Could Blow Up Health Spending – Axios, 6/9/21

FDA Approval Controversy

• New Alzheimer’s Drug Sparks Backlash Over FDA, Pricing – The Hill, 6/12/21
• 3 Experts Have Resigned From An FDA Committee Over Alzheimer’s Drug Approval – NPR, 6/11/21
• D.A. Approves Alzheimer’s Drug Despite Fierce Debate Over Whether It Works – The New York Times, 6/7/21
• Faced With Confusing Data On New Alzheimer’s Drug, Doctors Scramble To Advise Their Patients – STAT News, 6/14/21

Read more on what patient advocates, physicians and researchers, clinical experts, drug pricing advocates and even Wall Street analysts have had to say on the aducanumab controversy HERE.

Read CSRxP’s statement on the FDA’s decision to approve Aducanumab, and Biogen’s subsequent pricing decision HERE.

Learn more about market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable and lower prescription drug prices HERE.

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