Washington, DC, Nov 14, 2022 – Voices of Alzheimer’s, a newly formed advocacy organization guided and led by people affected by cognitive diseases, expressed disappointment today over the apparent failure of a new drug by Roche that sought to slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in those living with the earliest signs of cognitive illness.

Voices of Alzheimer’s is adamant that even though Roche was unable to prove a statistically significant impact of its drug gantenerumab, earlier results from Eisai and Biogen and still unknown results from Eli Lilly’s donanemab should still lead to a reconsideration by Medicaid of its decision last year to deny coverage for monoclonal antibody treatments for Alzheimer’s.  The drugs offer hope to millions of people worldwide who are currently living with Alzheimer’s without a therapy available that can alter the course of the disease.

The new results, said Jim Taylor, President of Voices of Alzheimer’s and long-time care-partner, should not be used by Medicaid to justify its blanket decision last year to refuse to cover the class of new drugs.

“While Roche seemingly did not meet its goals,” Taylor said, “other compounds are generating evidence that the federal government should change its discriminatory policies on coverage of Alzheimer’s treatments.  We need to keep the pipeline of new treatments flowing from research to patients, not cut it off at Medicare.”

The results released today by Roche for gantenerumab showed relative reduction in clinical decline of 8 percent in one trial and 6 percent in an identical trial compared to placebo. In contrast, Eisai and Biogen released preliminary data in late September about their new drug called lecanamab indicating delayed progression of cognitive loss by 27 percent compared to placebo.

Jay Reinstein, a founding Board Member of Voices of Alzheimer’s who is living with Early-Onset Alzheimer’s, said that “the lecanamab results were particularly striking given the failure of gantenerumab.”

“We are disappointed,” said Terrie Montgomery, a founding Board member of Voices of Alzheimer’s who is living with early-onset Alzheimer’s. “But we will not allow our momentary disappointment to diminish our efforts to demand that treatments are fully covered by Medicare and Medicaid once they are determined safe and effective by the FDA.”

The FDA may consider several new treatments for Alzheimer’s in 2023, potentially starting in January, at which point the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid would face intense pressure from patients to justify its blanket restriction on coverage. 

“It is our strong belief that Medicare has discriminated against people with Alzheimer’s and their families for the last decade by failing to provide coverage for Alzheimer’s diagnostics and FDA-approved treatments,” said Phil Gutis, a founding VOA Board member and person living with early-onset Alzheimer’s, “we are deserving of the same access to innovation as any other disease area.”

Learn more on the Voices of Alzheimer’s website, and on social media through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

VoicesOfAD.com

@VoicesOfAlz

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