U.S. Outlines Landmark Medicare Coverage for Alzheimer’s Drugs

The U.S. government has moved to cover a new class of drugs for Alzheimer’s disease that have been shown to slow patient decline from the debilitating neurological disorder.

 And physicians will have a key role in the government’s plan for limited coverage of such new prescription medicines, which are considered a critical advancement in treatment of Alzheimer’s because drugs thus far have only treated symptoms.

 To be covered, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on June 1 said the drugs will be covered if the Food and Drug Administration grants traditional approval, which could come as soon as early- to mid-July.

In addition, Medicare “will cover it in appropriate settings that also support the collection of real-world information to study the usefulness of these drugs for people with Medicare,” CMS said.

This happens when a physician or a clinical team have moved to cover a new class of drugs participates in a registry, which is essentially the both demonstrated for Alzheimer’s disease that have been collection of evidence about how the drugs work that they can reduce shown to slow patient decline from the for patients in the “real world,” CMS officials said. Read more here.