House panels launch investigation into controversial Alzheimer’s drug

An important next step in the furor over the new Alzheimer’s drug: Two House committees on Friday announced they are launching an investigation into the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) controversial approval of Aduhelm, and the drug’s $56,000 a year price.

The announcement from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) comes as the approval of Biogen’s drug earlier this month has provoked an outcry on numerous fronts.

The FDA has faced questions as to why it approved the drug given doubts about whether it actually works. The FDA’s advisory committee had recommended against approval, and three members resigned in protest of the approval.

Biogen then priced the treatment at $56,000 a year, stirring additional controversy and furthering Democratic calls for the government to lower drug prices.

“We have serious concerns about the steep price of Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm and the process that led to its approval despite questions about the drug’s clinical benefit,” Pallone and Maloney said in a statement.