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Sen. Bernie Sanders called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday to lower the price of new Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi.
In a letter addressed to HHS secretary Xavier Becerra, Sanders said the $26,500 list price for Leqembi, set by drugmakers Eisai and Biogen, is “unsustainable for Medicare,” and asked the agency how much the drug price will increase Medicare spending and insurance premiums for seniors who need the drug. The nonprofit Institute for Clinical and Economic Review estimated earlier this year that based on its effectiveness, the medication could be priced as low as $8,900 per year.
The $26,500 price tag could indeed increase Medicare premiums, as well as the federal program’s spending by billions of dollars, according to a study from UCLA and Harvard researchers and the Rand Corporation published in May.
“As we grapple with the huge number of Americans who will be seeking medical treatment for Alzheimer’s, we must develop policies now that prevent pharmaceutical companies from bankrupting Medicare and our entire healthcare system,” Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, wrote in the letter.
In 2023, about 6.7 million patients in the US aged 65 and over are living with Alzheimer’s, which causes memory loss, communication problems, and difficulty with basic tasks such as walking or swallowing, according to the nonprofit Alzheimer’s Association.
The FDA granted full approval last week for the Alzheimer’s medication, which may slow the cognitive decline of the disease during the early stages. Leqembi is the first Alzheimer’s medication to receive full FDA approval in 20 years, meaning the agency has strong evidence for the medication’s potential benefit over its risks, the New York Times reported. In rare cases, the drug can cause “serious and life-threatening events,” such as brain bleeding, which can be fatal.
Medicare will cover the majority of the drug’s cost for eligible patients in the early stages of the disease, and Eisai estimates that the drug take-up will reach about 100,000 patients by year three, according to a January statement. Patients may still face out-of-pocket costs of up to $6,600 per year for the medication, the UCLA study found.
“A prescription drug is not effective if a patient who needs that drug cannot afford it,” Sanders wrote.
Sanders said he will invite the HHS secretary to a Senate HELP Committee meeting to explain “how those outrageous prices threaten Medicare beneficiaries and patients throughout the country” if the agency doesn’t respond to the letter by July 21.