(Reuters) – Biogen Inc has not yet discussed with the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services about its decision on the coverage of the drugmaker’s Alzheimer’s drug, the company’s chief executive officer said in a call with analysts.
In a draft decision on Tuesday, CMS, which runs the government health plan for people over age 65, said it would cover Aduhelm and similar treatments only for patients enrolled in approved clinical trials.
“We want to be constructive with CMS. We just want to have a dialogue,” Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos said.
Biogen’s Japanese partner Eisai Co Ltd strongly opposed the draft decision, saying the proposal would severely restrict Medicare beneficiary access for the foreseeable future to all drugs in this class.
Aduhelm’s high price has raised concerns over the toll it might take on the Medicare program since Alzheimer’s is an age-related disease and around 85% of the people who might use the drug are in the government plan.
Sales so far have been weak. Biogen last month cut the medication’s list price by about half to $28,200 per year.
The agency’s final coverage terms, due by April 12, are expected to apply to all drugs in the class.
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla and Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
