Health
Medicare Proposes Expanding Patient Access to Alzheimer’s Scans
- Change could pave the way for broader uptake of new drugs
- Coverage of imaging test could be positive for Eisai, Biogen
PET scanner
Photographer: Carla Gottgens/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The US Medicare program will roll back rules that limited coverage for an expensive imaging scan for people with Alzheimer’s disease, a change that could increase the adoption of new therapies targeting the disease.
The diagnostic is known as a PET scan, which stands for positron emission tomography. It’s one way to detect a protein, called amyloid, associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Doctors need to confirm that patients have amyloid in their brains before prescribing the new Alzheimer’s drug from Eisai Co. and Biogen Inc.