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Can the remedy Aduhelm stop the mental deterioration of Alzheimer's patients?
Photo: Andrew Brookes/Westend61/Getty Images
The approval of the Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm in the summer of 2021 was considered a scandal.
And now it turns out that the market launch was obviously a flop.
The US biotechnology group and manufacturer of the drug announced that the company's boss, Michel Vounatsos, would resign.
»Biogen« will no longer market Aduhelm.
The New York Times reported on the announcement.
The medical benefit of Aduhelm has not been proven, and taking it is associated with serious health risks.
Medicare doesn't pay
Vounatsos had run Biogen for more than five years and had also overseen the approval and launch of the Alzheimer's drug.
Biogen said he would remain in his position until a successor was appointed.
In addition, the company no longer wants to spend any more money promoting Aduhelm.
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These decisions were preceded by a decision by Medicare last month.
Medicare is a public health insurance in the USA for people over 65 years of age and people with disabilities.
According to the report, Medicare had decided to drastically limit coverage for the Aduhelm drug.
The - immensely high - costs for the drug should only be covered in the case of people who receive the drug as a participant in a clinical study.
Biogen originally priced the drug at $56,000 a year for an average patient before halving the cost in response to weak initial sales.
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According to the company, Aduhelm had brought in just $2.8 million in revenue in the first three months of 2022.
The sale raised $3 million in the second half of 2021.
The group had calculated sales of more than 80 billion dollars.
Biogen also announced two weeks ago that the company would withdraw its application to market the drug in the European Union.
Experts had pointed out that approval of the drug was unlikely.
Many experts considered the approval to be negligent
The US drug authority, the Food and Drug Administration FDA, approved Aduhelm in June 2021 - a surprise for many experts.
Because the clinical effectiveness of the new preparation has not been confirmed.
Various errors in the approval process were also criticized.
With the decision, the FDA had defied the veto of its own scientific advisory board.
The Aduhelm preparation contains an antibody that fights plaques between the brain cells of people with Alzheimer's disease.
However, it has not been proven that it also stops the mental deterioration of the patients.
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