Medicare members could face barriers to accessing Biogen's new Alzheimer's drug, Aduhelm, due to the treatment's high cost.
The drug, which is currently priced at $56,000 a year, could surpass $5 billion in annual sales, which will mostly be paid for by Medicare, according to The Wall Street Journal. Though Medicare typically pays for approved medications unconditionally, the government program could restrict access to offset the high costs.
"Medicare can't afford to treat this as business as usual," Andy Slavitt, a former Medicare acting administrator and Biden senior adviser, told the Journal.
"Whether or not that drug will be covered by Medicare and Medicaid is an outstanding question, something HHS will have to deal with," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said June 24. "We're going to be making some pretty heady decisions about how it's treated, if it will be reimbursed, how much, and so forth."