TAMPA, Fla. — Earlier this year, drug company Biogen announced it was discontinuing the development of its Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, leaving patients participating in area trials left to find a new treatment path.

In 2021, Aduhelm became the first Alzheimer’s drug to be approved by the FDA in nearly two decades. Then, in January 2022, Medicare restricted its access. At the time, Michele Hall, a Bradenton woman, had just started treatments.

“We really feel it’s been helping her. It’s hard to measure, but she seems to be progressing really slowly,” said Doug Hall, Michele’s husband.

Michele was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at just 53-years-old. The mother of three and former lead counsel for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office had begun missing court cases and started to forget everyday words. Soon after her diagnosis, she started participating in an Aduhelm trial locally.

The drug has not been without controversy. It received fast tracked approval by the FDA, amid warnings of irregular study results and the potential for risks to outweigh the benefits. Sales for what was once touted as a game changer never took off and Biogen announced it was pulling it from the market in late January.

“He called me really quickly, and I was like, what? I just wasn’t ready for that,” Michele said of Doug giving her the news.

Now the couple says they will be looking into other treatments, including Biogen’s more widely accepted lecanemab, which also treats the disease in its early stages, as well as Eli Lilly’s donanemab, which could be approved by the FDA later this year.

However, the couple said there may be a waiting period before Michele can start a new treatment. If the disease progresses past the mild stage in that time frame, the other drugs may no longer be an option.

“I’m kind of scared there,” Michele said. “Especially if they say we’re going to have to start you from the bottom up now.”

Michele is set to receive her last Aduhelm treatment in November. In a statement from Biogen, the company said its decision to discontinue the drug had nothing to do with safety or efficacy concerns.