Guthrie Presses Biden Administration for Second Time To Remove Unreasonable Restrictions on Alzheimer's Treatments

Statement

Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), who serves as Republican Leader of the Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee, pressed top Biden Administration health officials in a letter to reverse a proposal that would arbitrarily restrict access to breakthrough Alzheimer's treatments. This marks Guthrie's second letter to call on the Biden Administration to abandon this proposal.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a National Coverage Determination (NCD) proposal that would restrict Medicare beneficiaries' access to a whole class of Alzhemier's treatments, including the recently FDA-approved Aduhelm. The proposal would specifically only allow Medicare beneficiaries participating in a randomized and CMS-approved clinical trial to receive coverage of these Alzheimer's treatments. The proposal also prevents Americans with Down Syndrome and other medical conditions from being able to participate in these clinical trials, which would severely limit their access to certain Alzheimer's treatments.

"I am calling on CMS to reverse their proposed national coverage decision to restrict Medicare beneficiaries' access to Aduhelm, a recently approved Alzheimer's treatment, and all future similar treatments being developed to treat Alzheimer's Disease. This proposal will not only arbitrarily limit access to these breakthrough therapies for people living with Alzheimer's, including individuals with Down Syndrome, but it will also discourage future investments in research to find a cure to Alzheimer's Disease. CMS must reverse their decision," said Guthrie.

Guthrie joined a bipartisan letter on March 31, 2022, to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to call for reversing this decision.

"As thousands of patients per day progress to later stages of the disease and become ineligible for these therapeutics, Americans cannot wait while CMS further delays access," the Members wrote in the March 31, 2022, letter.

Guthrie also joined a letter on February 8, 2022, to the HHS Secretary and CMS Administrator to encourage CMS to abandon this restrictive coverage decision.

"Furthermore, it is extremely concerning and unacceptable that the proposed NCD appears entirely to exclude Americans with Down Syndrome from any form of coverage through these trials for Aduhelm and any future amyloid-related treatments. As stated in the draft decision, covered patients "must not have: any neurological or other medical condition (other than Alzheimer's disease) that may significantly contribute to cognitive decline.' This effectively excludes patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities like Down Syndrome. This is a startling exclusion of a significant population that might otherwise benefit from coverage of Aduhelm," the Members wrote in the February 8, 2022, letter.

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