After Aduhelm, Congress May Revamp Accelerated Approvals

The FDA’s accelerated approval of Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm (aducanumab) last year was extremely controversial, prompting harsh criticism and calls for reform of the accelerated approval process itself. Congress has taken up the issue and is considering one bill from each major party that would revamp the process in the hope of addressing concerns that the pathway has allowed flawed drugs to stay on the market without being revisited.

Medical research and health care policy experts have raised a number of critiques of the current accelerated approval framework. Two critiques stand out: The first concerns the quality of data used in measuring the effectiveness of accelerated approval drugs. After a drug is granted accelerated approval, the FDA mandates that the drug be evaluated using confirmatory clinical trials. Experts have criticized the quality of data collected for accelerated approval drugs; in particular, the measurements used to gain approval for Aduhelm were heavily criticized by clinicians.