John,

Big Pharma is getting scared. They’re trying their usual tricks to overturn a decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that will save Medicare from Pharma greed, and stop them from exploiting vulnerable families―but people power is winning!

With just one day until the deadline, our coalition partners have driven in more comments on this single issue than all of CMS’s public comment periods in 2020 combined. But Biogen―the corporation that stands to make a killing if CMS’s decision is reversed―is flooding CMS with their own propaganda before tomorrow’s deadline.

The comment system is complicated―there’s no two ways about that. But this is extremely important if we want to stop Biogen from essentially transferring Medicare’s entire trust fund into its own bank account, paying for a drug that doesn’t work.

Unfortunately, CMS doesn’t make it easy for members of the public to make their voices heard, giving Big Pharma an inside track to rig the process! Most federal comment periods use a fairly straightforward system that makes sending a message as easy as signing a petition. But this particular comment period has a number of hurdles that make it difficult. Don’t worry―we’ve got your back. Here’s what you can do:

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to fight against Big Pharma greed! (click on any of the images below if you want to see them bigger)

1. Click here and open the CMS Comment page in a new browser window or tab.

2. On that page, click on the link that says “CMS PHI Posting Policy.”

3. Once the policy popup opens, click “OK” to close it.

4. Check the box below the CMS Posting Policy link. NOTE: You will not be able to fill in any of the forms until you’ve checked this box, and you can’t check this box until you’ve clicked “OK” in step 3 above.

5. Fill out your first name, last name and email under “Identification”
6. Copy this statement and paste it into the “Comment” box. Feel free to personalize it:

   The Food and Drug Administration’s decision to approve Aduhelm for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease showed a galling disregard for science and eviscerated the agency’s standards for approving new drugs. Because of this reckless action, the agency’s credibility has been irreparably damaged.

   The approval of Aduhelm was based on seriously flawed post hoc analyses of two identical phase 3 trials that were stopped early because a preliminary review of the data found that the trials, if continued to completion, were unlikely to show the drug benefitted Alzheimer’s disease patients. Moreover, the integrity of the FDA’s review of the marketing application for Aduhelm was dangerously corrupted by the unprecedented and inappropriately close collaboration between Biogen and the FDA during the analyses of data from the key clinical trials of the drug after the termination of the phase 3 clinical trials because of futility.

   CMS must not compound the FDA’s egregious error in approving Aduhelm on June 7, 2021. Given the lack of scientific evidence that Aduhelm provides any clinically meaningful benefit in terms of cognitive function outcomes in Alzheimer’s disease patients, the drug cannot possibly be deemed reasonable and necessary for treatment of such patients. I urge CMS to issue a national coverage determination that excludes Aduhelm from coverage under the Medicare program.

7. Fill out the required address fields, check the box to affirm that you are not a robot, and press “Submit!”

Thanks for adding your voice on this important action.

Michael Phelan
Social Security Works

P.S. Want more information on what’s behind CMS’s rejection of this drug? Watch this report from our friends at More Perfect Union and see what brought us to this point: https://perfectunion.us/medicare-premiums-will-skyrocket-2022/