Stay updated with breaking news from Adhelm. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
not guilty by reason of insanity, so they feel that he's not a threat to others or himself at this point so he's under no more supervision. >> i read that they said his mental illness is in remission. how do they know that. >> you never know for sure. but this is what they do for a living. saint elizabeths is a mental hospital. they make these sort of judgments. they're usually right. they're not always right which we hear about whether they're wrong. any sort of release like this is some kind of risk. but you know, this is been a long time. and he has been out in the public -- with free movement for almost 20 years now. so it is not really that big of a change. >> i want to ask you about your new reporting about this so-called alzheimer's drug, adhelm. so it purports to slow the symptoms of alzheimer's, yet major studies show no benefit to
patients. so why did this get approved and fast tracked? >> it is really, you know, alzheimer's is such a nightmare in this country now. i know from my own family and i think many, many people know what an epidemic this is. and there hasn't been a new drug approved since 2003. so there is very little medical progress. this drug was brought forward by the bio gen company and they said it slowed certain symptoms in the early stages of the disease. the fda has the system where they have advisory committees and they bring in outsiders with expertise and no connection to the drug and not one of the members of this committee thought that drug should be approved. >> unanimously they didn't think it should be approved. >> but the fda approved it. and interestingly, though, the alzheimer's association, the advocacy group wanted it approved. there is all of this desperation and this mood about now, the so-called freedom to try.
opposed to this drug say that is all of the more reason not to approve it because you're giving people false hope. >> was there some suggestion and i know you talked to one of the doctors who was on the advisory committee that there was some sort of too cozy relationship between the fda and bio gen. >> this is something i didn't know about until i started working on the story for cnn.com. that is where the story is. that the fda is now largely funded directly from the pharmaceutical companies. not through tax revenues. that they are sort -- they pay user fees. and some critics allege this is not corruption in the sense that people are taking payoffs but it has led to too cozy of a relationship between the regulators and the regulated and this is cited by certain critics of the industry and the fda as an example of what happens when there is too cozy of a relationship. i really wish i had an answer for people with alzheimer's and
that a lot -- there is sort of a free market approach to drug approvals which is maybe it will work, let's let the consumers decide. >> but there are side effects. >> there are side effects and enormous cost. this thing costs at least $56,000 a year. it is unclear whether medicare would cover it. two major hospitals, mt. sinai and cleveland clinic want nothing to do with this. and what i feel terrible about is what are the patients supposed to do. are they supposed to read the sophisticated studies and decide and rely on the fda or rely on all of the experts who say this is of no benefit. it is a tremendous, you know -- if you know anybody whose family member has been afflicted with alzheimer's, they'll do anything, they're so desperate to try to hold on to family members who slip away that they -- and the people who are