Study: Medicare could waste up to $605M on Alzheimer’s drug vials – By Judy Packer-Tursman (UPI) / June 27, 2022
WASHINGTON, June 27 (UPI) — The vials containing an expensive, controversial drug for Alzheimer’s disease are fixed in size, yet the amount required by patients varies widely, since it is administered via intravenous infusion partly based on body weight.
This issue alone could waste $605 million in Medicare spending annually, assuming the use of Aduhelm (known generically as aducanumab) becomes widespread, new research suggests.
The National Institutes of Health-funded study, led by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the issue of fixed-amount vials might cause large volumes of aducanumab to be discarded unused.
