Alzheimer’s patients in Biogen trial press for new access to treatment 

From double-checking the date on the news story to wondering “What the hell?”, the reactions from former patients of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s therapy aducanumab to yesterday’s news that the company was resurrecting the failed drug have been mixed. After all, the company has sent mixed messages: Biogen halted experiments with the drug in March because it didn’t appear to be working, but said yesterday that “a new analysis of a larger dataset” revealed that the drug had in fact reduced clinical decline in those with early stages of Alzheimer’s. Many patients who were disappointed when trials were discontinued will now have the chance to re-enroll in a new trial for former participants. “I’m sort of scratching my head and jumping for joy at the same time,” Jeff Borghoff, one such patient, tells STAT’s Andrew Joseph.