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Alzheimer’s drug by Biogen to be given to first patient

By Shubhangi on Jun 16, 2021 | 04:36 AM IST

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A US hospital will give the first infusion of the highly controversial Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug on Wednesday.

The drug, Aduhelm, will be administered for the first time outside of a clinical trial at Butler Hospital’s Memory and Aging Program in Providence, Rhode Island.

Though the drug has only been tested for patients in the early stages of the disease, Food and Drug Administration approved it for all Alzheimer patients.

Dr. David Knopman, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, who resigned from the panel of advisors to the FDA, said he did not see any reason for most patients to get the drug.

"I may have talked one person out of" using it, he said. "I will turn over some of the responsibility to this team of people we are putting together. They will get my opinion."

Biogen said that from 6 million people in US with Alzheimer’s, around 1.5 million are considered to have early-stage disease.

Cigna Corp Chief Clinical Officer Steve Miller said he expects Cigna, as well as other health insurers and Medicare, will only agree to cover the drug for patients with early Alzheimer's, reported Reuters.

The patient getting the drug for the first time at Butler Hospital is a 70-year-old man with Medicare insurance.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Picture Credits: Reuters

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