World News for Students of English

14-06-2021 15:00

The company Biogen has made a drug for Alzheimer’s called Aduhelm, which is the first-ever drug to target the possible causes of the disease.

It is also the first new approved treatment in 18 years. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the drug to begin sending it in less than two weeks.

There are more than 6 million people in the US who have Alzheimer’s. Patient advocates and doctors are hailing the drug, while others said that the clinical trials were inconsistent.

The cost of the drug is $56,000 per year, and sales could go up to $1 billion for Biogen in 2022. A researcher said he hoped there will be competition in similar drugs to bring down the price and other economical treatments will also be discovered.

Difficult words: advocate (a person who helps and speaks for others), hail (to say something is very good), clinical trial (a scientific way to test a drug or a treatment to see if it helps people or if it hurts people), economical (cheaper but still effective).

You can watch the video news lower on this page.