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Drummond urges Biden Administration to provide Medicare coverage for Alzheimer's drug

OKLAHOMA CITY (May 1, 2023) – Attorney General Gentner Drummond is leading a coalition of 26 attorneys general in urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide coverage for a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that has been proven to delay the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease.

In an April 26 letter, Drummond asked CMS to provide full and unrestricted Medicare coverage for FDA-approved Alzheimer’s treatments, consistent with its decades-long practice of covering FDA-approved prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries.

“The more than 6 million Americans who are living with Alzheimer’s deserve equal access to FDA-approved medications,” said Drummond. “The Biden administration should be fighting for these patients and their families. It is critical that we ensure these vulnerable patients can receive treatments that are recommended by their doctors.”

The treatment specified by attorneys general in the letter is FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed against amyloid to help Alzheimer’s patients. Currently, CMS will only cover mAbs when it is administered through clinical trials or other studies.

“This decision creates a barrier to care for older Americans, especially individuals living in rural and underserved areas that are unlikely to be served by institutions administering clinical trials,” Drummond wrote in the letter.

The full letter can be read here. Joining Drummond in leading the coalition are attorneys general from Arizona, Minnesota and Ohio. Also included in the request are attorneys general from Arkansas, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.