State Strategies for Costly Drugs with Unconfirmed Clinical Benefits

This commentary examines how recent approval of the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm under the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s  Accelerated Approval Program is controversial for a range of reasons, including its projected impact on state Medicaid budgets which will be required to cover the drug, priced at $56,000 a year, despite inconclusive evidence of its clinical effectiveness. While Aduhelm is the latest prescription drug to make headlines, state Medicaid programs have been seeking policy solutions to address high-cost accelerated approval drugs for some time.