Change at top after drug flops

Biogen will replace its CEO and largely abandon marketing of its controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm less than a year after the medication’s launch triggered a backlash from experts, doctors and insurers.

CEO Michel Vounatsos will continue to lead Biogen until a successor is found, the company announced Tuesday. Vounatsos joined the company in 2016 and was the chief architect of Biogen’s strategy built around Aduhelm.

For now, Biogen said it is “substantially eliminating” spending on Aduhelm as part of a $1 billion cost-saving plan designed to refocus the company’s flagging biotech business.

The announcement represents a stark acknowledgement that the Cambridge, Mass.-based company has failed to find a market for a drug that was expected to drive its business for years to come.

Aduhelm was the first new Alzheimer’s drug introduced in nearly two decades. Initially priced at $56,000 a year, analysts predicted it would quickly become a blockbuster drug that would generate billions for Biogen.

But doctors have been hesitant to prescribe it, given weak evidence that the drug slows the progression of Alzheimer’s. Insurers have blocked or restricted coverage over the drug’s high price tag and uncertain benefit. Even the company’s decision to slash the drug’s price in half— to $28,000 a year — did little to improve uptake.

The biggest setback came last month when the federal government’s Medicare health plan imposed strict limits on who can get the drug, wiping out most of its potential U.S. market.