As announced in March, the AIFA Board of Directors (BoD), at its 22 April meeting, held hearings with neurological societies and patient associations on the new monoclonal antibodies authorised for the treatment of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

The hearings were attended by the Italian Society of Neurology (Società Italiana di Neurologia - SIN), the Italian Society of Neurology of Dementias (Società Italiana di Neurologia delle demenze - SINdem) and the Society of Neurologists, Neurosurgeons and Hospital Neuroradiologists (Società dei Neurologi, Neurochirurghi e Neuroradiologi Ospedalieri - SNO), which submitted a joint position paper to the BoD on treatments with biological medicinal products for Alzheimer’s disease.

The Italian Alzheimer’s Disease Association (Associazione Italiana Malattia di Alzheimer - AIMA) and the Italian Alzheimer’s Federation, represented the patients’ perspective. Notably, this was the first occasion since the establishment of the Agency’s post‑reform Board of Directors on which patient associations were invited to a hearing, as expressly provided for in the Regulation on the organisation and functioning of the Board of Directors.

The initiative is part of a broader framework of policies on stakeholder participation and active listening promoted by AIFA, intending to enhance stakeholders’ contribution to the improvement of pharmaceutical care.

Along the same lines are the dialogue initiatives “AIFA Ascolta”, aimed at patient associations and federations, and “AIFA Incontra”, addressed to institutional, scientific and industrial stakeholders active in the field of medicines and healthcare. Following the recent approval of the relevant Regulations, both initiatives will be launched shortly, on 5 and 6 May respectively.