Biogen expected Aduhelm to swamp Medicare’s budget, documents show

In November 2020, Biogen’s management made a presentation to its board of directors about strategic considerations for pricing Aduhelm, in anticipation of its approval as an Alzheimer’s treatment. According to Biogen’s estimates of the cost and market, the anti-amyloid mAb would account for more than a quarter of the Medicare Part B budget, equivalent to the combined cost of the top eight drugs in the Part B budget in 2018.

The modeling, which was part of a package of documents released by Congress late last year, assumed a net cost of $48,000 per patient, reflecting a $55,000 wholesale acquisition cost (WAC), and estimated uptake by 250,000 patients. Under those assumptions, Aduhelm aducanumab-avwa would have created an annual cost to Medicare of $12 billion. ...