In the News
MEDICARE COMMITS TO ALZHEIMER’S DRUG COVERAGE
Aduhelm and Leqembi have received accelerated approval from the FDA.
Medicare announced that it intends to cover Alzheimer’s disease medications if they are fully approved for usage by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The policy decision, which applies to people with Medicare Part B, raises the prospect that thousands of older adults could have access this summer to a promising medication to treat the early stages of the disease.
“Alzheimer’s disease takes a toll on not just the people suffering from the disease but also on their loved ones and caregivers,” said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). “CMS has always been committed to helping people obtain timely access to innovative treatments that meaningfully improve care and outcomes for this disease.”
Two new Alzheimer’s drugs, Aduhelm and Leqembi, have received accelerated approval from the FDA. So far, Medicare coverage is limited to people participating in clinical trials. But the FDA is reviewing a traditional approval application for Leqembi and is expected to make a decision this summer.
Wider access to Leqembi would begin as soon as the FDA grants traditional approval, CMS said. That Medicare coverage will apply to patients in the early stages of the disease whose doctors participate in what’s known as a registry, where they collect and submit evidence about how drugs work in the real world. Researchers will use that information, “furthering knowledge of how these drugs can potentially help people,” CMS said.
Aduhelm and Leqembi are different from other Alzheimer’s drugs on the market. They go after amyloid plaques in the brain and are designed to slow the rate of cognitive decline, not just treat its symptoms.
About 6 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease. Without a cure, that number is expected to skyrocket in the coming decades.
Fewer Fraud Calls Reaching U.S. Phones
PHONE RINGING A LITTLE less often lately? Thank regulators working to end fraudulent calls.
Project Point of No Entry blocks many spam calls from overseas by cutting them off at their “gateways” into the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in April. The program should slash illegal robocalls, more than 20 billion of which reached Americans last year.
Foreign scammers send their calls to a gateway provider, which hands the call off to a U.S. network carrier. The FTC said it identified 24 gateway providers transmitting robocalls and threatened them with legal action if they didn’t block the calls. The frauds these providers let through included government impostor hoaxes, COVID-19 relief payment scams and student loan debt forgiveness schemes.
All but two of the gateway companies have “significantly curbed or altogether stopped” illegal robocalls, the FTC says.
Robocallers use a variety of techniques to get you to answer, including spoofing, which tricks your phone’s caller ID into displaying a fake phone number. Some good advice to avoid getting tricked by a robocall: Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers.
NEW TREATMENT FOR HOT FLASHES
A NEW MEDICINE THAT promises relief for the estimated 80 percent of older women who endure hot flashes while going through menopause was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in May.
The first-of-its-kind pill, to be marketed under the name Veozah, works by acting on a part of the brain that helps regulate a person’s body temperature. Estrogen helps to keep that part of the brain properly balanced. When a woman’s estrogen levels fall during menopause, the imbalance leads to hot flash symptoms.
“It’s very targeted,” Claudia Mason, M.D., a gynecologist with the Cleveland Clinic, says about the new drug. “And when things are targeted like that, they tend not to have as many side effects.”
In clinical trials, moderate to severe hot flashes were reduced in study participants who took Veozah. Some did report side effects such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, insomnia and back pain.
The treatment, from drugmaker Astellas Pharma, is expected to cost $550 for a one-month supply. Out-of-pocket costs will depend on insurance coverage.
Black Life Spans Almost 6 Years Less Than White Lives
HIGHER DISEASE RATES and greater life challenges, among other factors, mean African Americans have suffered a cumulative loss of 80 million years of life compared with white people in the first two decades of the 21st century, according to a study of U.S. death certificate data. The findings raise a critical alarm about the need for new health policies aimed at improving longevity for African Americans, researchers say in a study recently published in JAMA.
70.8 years
life expectancy at birth for Black Americans in 2021
Researchers reviewed U.S. death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and compared the age-adjusted mortality rates between the Black population and the white population from 1999 to 2020. Researchers say a cumulative loss of more than 80 million potential years of life for African Americans, compared with white people from 1999 to 2020, was largely due to increased rates of heart disease, cancer and infant mortality. The pandemic also widened the gap between Black and white mortality rates.
The study estimated the excess life lost among Black people by comparing the age of their death against typical life expectancy. In 2021, white Americans had a life expectancy at birth of 76.4 years, the CDC says; for Black Americans, it was 70.8 years.
DEEP-PILED REMORSE
THREE-QUARTERS OF AMERICANS admit their decorating choices aged poorly, says a poll commissioned by online shopping site Slickdeals. Among the biggest regrets: Four in 10 listed 1970s-era design choices such as shag carpets and wood-paneled walls. Avocado green paint also triggered contrition.