Alliance for Aging Research is Deeply Troubled by CMS' Proposed Medicare Coverage Policy for Monoclonal Antibodies Directed Against Amyloid for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliance for Aging Research President and CEO Sue Peschin, MHS, released the following statement in response to CMS' proposed Medicare coverage policy for monoclonal antibodies directed against amyloid for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease:

"We are deeply troubled by CMS' decision today. The CMS draft national coverage decision requirements under "coverage with evidence development" for monoclonal antibody (mAB) therapies aimed at amyloid for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease are overly restrictive, medically unethical, unlikely to meet the agency's goal to address health equity, and will directly compete with clinical trial recruitment for FDA-required post-market study and will ultimately prolong evidence collection. This decision is not about furthering clinical evidence, it is about CMS severely rationing Alzheimer's patients' treatment access to save Medicare costs, full stop. 

Additionally, the unprecedented politicization of this coverage decision to a community that already faces a high degree of isolation and stigma has been shameful and ageist. People living with Alzheimer's disease should not be scapegoats for this Administration's choice to excessively increase premiums, or for its joint effort with Congress to peddle price setting for prescription drugs.

We will continue to study the proposed decision and look forward to commenting on the proposal in partnership with other patient and family caregiver stakeholder groups in the coming 30 days."

For more info, read the Alliance's August 11, 2021 comment to CMS on Coverage for Monoclonal Antibodies for Alzheimer's Disease: Alliance for Aging Research Submits Comments on Coverage for Monoclonal Antibodies for Alzheimer's Disease - Alliance for Aging Research.

About the Alliance for Aging Research
The Alliance for Aging Research is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the pace of scientific discoveries and their application to vastly improve the universal human experience of aging and health. The Alliance believes advances in research help people live longer, happier, more productive lives and reduce healthcare costs over the long term. For more than 30 years, the Alliance has guided efforts to substantially increase funding and focus for aging at the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration; built influential coalitions to guide groundbreaking regulatory improvements for age-related diseases; and created award-winning, high-impact educational materials to improve the health and well-being of older adults and their family caregivers. For more information, visit www.agingresearch.org.

Contact: Matt Thompson, [email protected] 

SOURCE Alliance for Aging Research