July, 10 2023, 12:34pm EDT
Sanders Once Again Urges Biden Administration to Act to Lower Outrageous Price of Alzheimer’s Treatment and Costly New Prescription Drugs
Following the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) full approval of the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Monday sent a follow-up letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra once again urging the Biden Administration to act to substantially reduce the price of this treatment and to develop a plan to lower the price of all new prescription drugs. Sanders previously wrote to Becerra last month on the outrageous cost of Leqembi before the FDA’s approval.
“Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease,” Sanders wrote. “We must do everything possible to find a cure for the millions of people who suffer from it today, and the millions more who will be afflicted in the coming years. But, 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 health care system.”
In his letter, Sanders asked Secretary Becerra why the price of Leqembi could not be lowered to $8,900, which is the price independent experts believe it should cost based on its effectiveness. Sanders also asked Secretary Becerra how much Leqembi will cost Medicare, how much Medicare premiums will go up for all seniors as a result of the cost of this one drug, how many seniors with Alzheimer’s will not be able to receive treatment because they cannot afford to pay the more than $5,000 co-payment for Leqembi, and what strategy, if any, HHS is developing to lower the price of new prescription drugs coming onto the market.
Sanders requested that Secretary Becerra provide a written response to his questions no later than July 21. If Sanders does not receive a timely and adequate response to these questions, he will be inviting Secretary Becerra to attend a HELP Committee hearing to “explain to the American people why we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and how those outrageous prices threaten Medicare beneficiaries and patients throughout the country.”
Leqembi was developed by Eisai, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, and Biogen, an American company that in 2021 wanted to charge U.S. taxpayers $56,000 for a different Alzheimer’s treatment called Aduhelm. After public pressure from Sanders, Biogen backed down and lowered the price to $28,200. Biogen and Eisai have set the price of Leqembi at $26,500 even though the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, an independent non-profit organization, estimated in March that this drug should be sold for as little as $8,900 per year based on its effectiveness.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, if only 10 percent of the 6.7 million older adults with Alzheimer’s disease take Leqembi at Eisai and Biogen’s proposed price, it would cost Medicare $17.8 billion, which is nearly half of what Medicare Part B spent on all drugs in 2021.
In early December of 2021, Sanders sent a letter to President Biden urging him to instruct Medicare to delay expanding coverage of Aduhelm until the scientific community determined that it was safe and effective and to reverse a record-breaking increase in Medicare premiums attributable to the $56,000 price of this drug. Sanders first spoke out about Biogen’s outrageous greed when the original $56,000 price tag for the treatment was released. As a result, the Administration limited access to Aduhelm for clinical trials and reduced Medicare premiums by 3 percent this year.
Read the letter, here.
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"So if you're wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is," said one critic.
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Public health advocates, federal lawmakers, and other critics responded with alarm to The New York Timesreporting on Friday that an attorney helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. select officials for the next Trump administration tried to get the U.S. regulators to revoke approval of the polio vaccine in 2022.
"The United States has been a leader in the global fight to eradicate polio, which is poised to become only the second disease in history to be eliminated from the face of the earth after smallpox," said Liza Barrie, Public Citizen's campaign director for global vaccines access. "Undermining polio vaccination efforts now risks reversing decades of progress and unraveling one of the greatest public health achievements of all time."
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According to the newspaper:
Mr. Siri is also representing ICAN in petitioning the FDA to "pause distribution" of 13 other vaccines, including combination products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, polio, and hepatitis A, until their makers disclose details about aluminum, an ingredient researchers have associated with a small increase in asthma cases.
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Ayman Chit, head of vaccines for North America at Sanofi, told the newspaper that development of the vaccine began in 1977, over 280 million people worldwide have received it, and there have been more than 300 studies, some with up to six months of follow-up.
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Asked about RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine record during a Time "Person of the Year" interview published Thursday, the president-elect said that "we're going to be able to do very serious testing" and certain vaccines could be made unavailable "if I think it's dangerous."
Trump toldNBC News last weekend: "Hey, look, I'm not against vaccines. The polio vaccine is the greatest thing. If somebody told me to get rid of the polio vaccine, they're going to have to work real hard to convince me. I think vaccines are—certain vaccines—are incredible. But maybe some aren't. And if they aren't, we have to find out."
Both comments generated concern—like the Friday reporting in the Times, which University of Alabama law professor and MSNBC columnist Joyce White Vance called "absolutely terrifying."
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Ryan Cooper, managing editor at The American Prospect, warned that "they want your kids dead."
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Multiple critics altered Trump's campaign slogan to "Make Polio Great Again."
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Without naming anyone, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor, put out a lengthy statement on Friday.
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