Patient Volumes Recovering + Aduhelm

This week the team has been keeping their eyes on 1Q22 Patient Volume/Procedure Updates and the Aduhelm CMS Decision.

Elective Surgical Procedures Increasing in 1Q22

We were interested to see that one of the tracking surveys in the hospital sector showed improvement in numbers of patients and procedures in the first quarter of the year. Both in-patient and out-patient hospital Non-COVID volumes are recovering and physicians are optimistic that this will continue. The respondents noted an improvement in patients who are scheduling both inpatient and outpatient elective procedures.

The research also showed positive trends for CROs as new patient recruitment improved 25% over the previous quarter with rates nearing pre-COVID levels. The survey also noted that Labor continues to be an issue that could impact the speed of recovery. Clients can access the full report here.

CMS Issues Final NCD for Aduhelm

CMS released their final NCD proposal (here) for Aduhelm reimbursement. They will limit reimbursement to patients in clinical trials. This confirms previous drafts and has already been factored into most forecasts (here).

The impact on other products in development such as those by Lilly, Eisai, and Roche is not yet clear – they are still continuing development of their candidates. The CMS stated they would cover approved antibodies based on direct clinical benefit — such as proof of slowing cognitive decline — in CMS-approved prospective comparative studies. The CMS suggested that such studies could include real-world data from a broader range of patients such as from routine clinical practice or a patient registry. So, there may be a way forward for new / developing Alzheimer's Drugs to gain coverage.

Tip of the Week

We have upgraded the Personal Alerting Services:

Alerts are a powerful tool in PharmaTell Studio that will help you to stay updated on new reports that match your interest profile. What’s new:

1. You can select multiple companies, categories, and activities in one alert to reduce the number of email notifications you receive.

2. There are now drop-down menus to simplify setting up searches.

3. You can specify which analysts you would like to see.

4. You can still filter by additional search terms such as “Tracking” or “Results Calls”.

5. You are still able to select daily or weekly notifications.

If you haven’t activated your PharmaTell Studio account and can’t access the links or if you are interested in a free trial of PharmaTell, please send us an email at helpdesk@pharmatell.com and we will be happy to assist you.