Image of an elderly nursing home resident receiving help with feeding by a nursing assistant

The Alzheimer’s Association is lobbying lawmakers to convince the Biden administration to reconsider a decision not to provide full coverage for new Alzheimer’s drugs which the organization believes could help thousands of people afflicted with the disease.

According to a report in Reuters, the Alzheimer’s Association is mobilizing its supporters to urge Medicare to approve broader access to Eisen and Biogen’s new drug Leqembi (lecanemab) and other potential Alzheimer’s drugs used in the treatment of amyloid plaques.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in February that it was not reconsidering a national coverage determination for the Food and Drug Administration-approved monoclonal antibodies directed against amyloid for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, saying there was not enough evidence to support reconsideration at the time.

After the announcement, the Alzheimer’s Association released a statement sharply criticizing the CMS decision to not expand coverage for the Alzheimer’s drugs.

“CMS’ role is to provide health coverage. Their role is not to stand between a patient and a doctor when deciding what FDA-approved treatments are appropriate. Their role is not to single out people living with Alzheimer’s and decide that their lives, their independence and their memories are not necessary,” said Joanne Pike, DrPH, Alzheimer’s Association president and CEO, in a news release.

The association has launched a lobbying campaign to convince lawmakers to support a change in the CMS policy. A bipartisan group of lawmakers in both the House and Senate have sent letters to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, stressing the importance of access to FDA-approved Alzheimer’s treatments.

In its statement last month, the CMS said once the amyloid treatments receive full approval from the FDA, it would be able to provide broader coverage for these drugs.

“CMS will expeditiously review any new evidence that becomes available that could lead to a reconsideration and change of the national coverage determination,” the statement read.

However, Pike noted that final FDA approval of the new amyloid drugs may not occur until at least this summer, which would unnecessarily delay treatment for thousands of people suffering from early Alzheimer’s disease.

“Each day matters to someone living with early stage Alzheimer’s disease when it comes to slowing the progression of the disease,” she said in the release.

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