HHS OIGThe HHS Office of Inspector General will review FDA’s accelerated approval pathway following the controversy surrounding the agency’s approval of the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm (aducanumab) from Biogen (NSDQ:BIIB) and Eisai (TYO:4523).

Among the controversies surrounding the drug’s approval is the use of the accelerated approval pathway, which led the agency to use a surrogate endpoint to approve aducanumab conditionally. 

The HHS watchdog will investigate how the agency implements the accelerated pathway and will review “interactions between the FDA and outside parties as well as other aspects of the process, such as deciding on this pathway and scientific disputes,” HHS OIG said in a statement. In addition, the OIG will study FDA policies and procedures and the agency’s compliance with them. It will later make “appropriate findings and recommendations based on a sample of drugs approved using the accelerated approval pathway, which will include Aduhelm.”

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