The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued on Thursday its hotly debated final decision on whether to cover aducanumab (Aduhelm), the first FDA-approved treatment for Alzheimer’s that slows the disease’s biological progression rather than just temporarily easing its symptoms. We believe it made the wrong choice.
The agency, which regulates the public insurance programs that collectively serve about 135 million Americans, decided it will cover the cost of Aduhelm only for the tiny subset of people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease who choose to enroll in CMS-approved clinical trials of the drug.