Alzheimer’s disease largely affects older adults and worsens with time, eventually leaving people unable to complete basic daily activities like eating or bathing. Older Black and Hispanic adults are disproportionately vulnerable to Alzheimer’s, largely due to socioeconomic disparities that increase the prevalence of chronic conditions (such as hypertension) that exacerbate dementia risk. In addition to costing the health care system more than $300 billion annually, Alzheimer’s and related dementia care also takes a huge financial, physical and emotional toll on caregivers.

There is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s and there are only a few treatments with limited efficacy available. It has been 18 years since the last new Alzheimer’s treatment was approved by the FDA, so aducanumab offered new hope as the first treatment to target a suspected underlying cause of the disease.

However, most experts believed the clinical data underlying the drug painted a much more pessimistic picture. The FDA’s own panel of expert advisers found the drug’s evidence insufficient for approval by a vote of 10-0 last fall. But on June 7, 2021, the FDA went against its advisers and made what many saw as a shocking decision to approve aducanumab.

While some patients and advocacy groups rejoiced, three of the FDA’s expert advisors resigned in protest. Others recoiled at the $56,000 price tag drugmaker Biogen put on a product that neither cures nor halts Alzheimer’s disease. The hefty price could squeeze seniors with large out-of-pocket costs and swamp the already fiscally precarious Medicare program with billions in new spending.