Adobe
For all the explosive controversy over the approval of the first treatment for Alzheimer’s disease in nearly 20 years, hardly any patients have actually gotten it yet.
The drug’s eye-popping, $56,000 annual price and questionable benefit to patients have been a shock to the bureaucracy that makes the health care system run and that’s having a clear effect on uptake. Some analysts estimated last month that fewer than 100 patients were dosed in the first weeks after the therapy was approved, though availability will likely ramp up over the coming months.
Though the Food and Drug Administration said in approving the therapy, Aduhelm, that the data indicate a likely benefit, hospital and insurer committees are conducting their own analyses, acting as another set of gatekeepers. They regularly review new treatments, but the lingering questions about the drug’s efficacy, as well as the logistical challenges of delivering an infused drug, are complicating and prolonging t
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