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Does the FDA‐approved Alzheimer drug aducanumab have a place in the Australian pharmacopoeia?

Andrew Gleason, Scott Ayton and Ashley I Bush
Med J Aust 2022; 216 (4): . || doi: 10.5694/mja2.51408
Published online: 21 February 2022

Aducanumab, a controversial Alzheimer disease therapeutic with questionable efficacy, is under Therapeutic Goods Administration review

Dementia, the second leading cause of death in Australia,1 affects nearly half a million people.2 It is the single greatest cause of disability in Australians aged 65 years and over and cost more than $15 billion in 2018.2 Alzheimer disease (AD) accounts for about two‐thirds of cases.3 The need for disease‐modifying treatment for AD is clearly one of the highest priorities for current medical research.


  • 1 Melbourne Dementia Research Centre, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC
  • 2 Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Sydney, NSW


Correspondence: ashley.bush@florey.edu.au

Acknowledgements: 

This work was supported by funds from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. The Florey Institute also acknowledges support from the Victorian Government Operational Infrastructure Support Program. The funding sources acknowledged provide support to the authors but did not have any direct role in planning, writing or publication of this work.

Competing interests:

Ashley Bush is a shareholder in Alterity Ltd, Cogstate Ltd and Mesoblast Ltd. He is a paid consultant for, and has a profit share interest in, Collaborative Medicinal Development Pty Ltd.

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