STAT+: Lawmakers face off about the future of the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway

Lawmakers have very different ideas about the future of the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway, and Biogen’s controversial Alzheimer’s drug is at the center of the debate.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers are facing off over the future of the Food and Drug Administration’s so-called accelerated approval pathway, with Biogen’s controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm front and center in the debate.

The very first minutes of a Thursday hearing, originally billed as an opportunity to highlight roughly 20 different health policy measures, focused on the future of accelerated approval, which allows the FDA to approve drugs without clear evidence they prolong patients’ lives.

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