Although the Biogen treatment failed, there is still hope
Biogen Inc.’s (BIIB) Alzheimer’s disease treatment, which was authorized last year, might be considered a failure. However, the firm is not giving up on finding a solution for this ailment, and it has made another breakthrough. Aduhelm, Biogen’s medicine for Alzheimer’s disease that was approved last year, has let both customers and the company down.
The company is now attempting to reduce the drug’s distribution program, and Aduhelm’s failure is the most probable cause of Biogen’s CEO’s departure. Experts have questioned the validity of clinical studies, even when the treatment has already been licensed, which is why Aduhelm failed. At the end of last year, the European Medicines Agency said that the medicine should not be approved because it needs more testing to find out if it has any harmful side effects.
The medicine barely made $300,000 in the first quarter in the United States, despite the business expecting sales of at least $14 million. Abuhelm has made fewer than $6 million in sales since the clearance. The cost of therapy has been cut in half, to $28,200 per year, thanks to Biogen. Medicare, on the other hand, will only reimburse the expenses of individuals who get Aduhelm as part of a clinical study.
The company announced a decrease in the medicine’s sales infrastructure and set aside $275 million for inventory write-offs connected to the drug. Biogen will just keep the bare minimum of support infrastructure in place to continue to deliver the medicine to patients who are presently receiving it for free. Despite Abuhelm’s failures, Biogen has not abandoned its efforts to discover a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Another medicine, Lecanemab, is expected to be approved in full next year.
Biogen’s second try may be more successful since it will be able to learn from its previous missteps. However, Alzheimer’s disease has proven to be one of the most challenging tasks in biotechnology history. Countless promising development initiatives have failed. Simultaneously, the first successful development will almost certainly be a blockbuster.
