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FDA approves Biogen-Eisai Alzheimer’s drug, China in talks to make Pfizer Paxlovid generic

Yahoo Finance health care reporter Anjalee Khemlani highlights the progress on Biogen-Eisai's collaborative Alzheimer's treatment drug and China's plans to distribute Pfizer's Paxlovid pill.

Video transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

SEANA SMITH: The FDA giving the green light for a new Alzheimer's treatment. For more, we want to bring in Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani. And Anjalee, we certainly saw some action in the market today on the heels of this news.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Absolutely. So this is something that we'd been anticipating hoping would come through in terms of Biogen getting its second attempt to get an Alzheimer's treatment through the door of the FDA greenlighting it, as part of a fast track approval. And that's something that has been a point of concern for some experts and some-- and especially medical experts. So let's just recap what happened.

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We know that the fast track approval is basically for treatments that have unmet need but large population base, just like for Alzheimer's. And millions of individuals, more than 10 million at least, could benefit from this. It's catered towards individuals that have early sort of milder disease and can qualify for milder treatment. It is a twice-- every-two-week treatment. And it's going to cost about $26,500 a year. That is close to Biogen's other treatment, which initially hit the market at a whopping $56,000 a year. Lots of pushback on that Medicare not covering it.

So the price point a concern, as you can see on your screen, this is who qualifies. We see, you know, the focus of it. It is the second treatment, not just for Biogen, but also in this class of treatments which is targeting the sticky plaque buildup known as amyloid beta in the brain. And so that is the reason why there is so much to do and ado about this.

DAVE BRIGGS: There's rarely good news on Alzheimer's, so let's just savor this for the moment. All right. China continuing to handle an explosion of COVID numbers and now in talks with Pfizer. What's the deal?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: So China is in works to get a generic version of Paxlovid the antiviral to treat COVID-19. On the market in China, they already just, last week, got to deal with Merck through Sinopharm, their local manufacturer, an exclusive deal to produce that. They already do have Pfizer's Paxlovid in the market. But because of the rise in cases, because of what China is dealing with right now, they're really struggling to meet the demand for treatment.

Now, remember, this is a treatment that's given to early disease, early symptom onset, and for typically older individuals, which is a lot of what China is seeing when it comes to the spread of this variant. They do-- they are struggling with a black market right now. So we've got, you know, India's Hetero with producing a generic version already backed by the World Health Organization. And that's already on the market, but it's not approved there. So it's a struggle right there right now for China to get some of these treatments.

DAVE BRIGGS: But still, not going anywhere near an mRNA vaccine?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: No.

DAVE BRIGGS: Still with your hands off, right?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: We could get into a whole-- that's a whole--

DAVE BRIGGS: Right. That's a whole--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

It's still remarkable, isn't it? Anj, good to see you. Have a good weekend. Thank you.