Future of Alzheimer’s drugs lies with the High Court
pharmafile | January 9, 2007 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â Â
Eisai has applied to the High Court for permission to request a legal hearing into NICE's decision to ban anti-dementia medicines for NHS patients with newly-diagnosed mild Alzheimer's disease.
The much-expected move follows NICE's refusal to back down over its decision to withdraw approval for NHS drugs for mild and late-onset Alzheimers last November.
Eisai, which produces Aricept along with Pfizer, is now waiting to see whether the High Court agrees to grant a judicial review and, if so, when the review will be heard.
This is the first time a NICE decision has been contested at this level.
Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society – which is backing Eisai's challenge – said: "More than 100,000 people will develop dementia this year, yet NICE has completely ignored the shattering effect this decision will have not just on them, but their carers too."
He added: "This is a fatally flawed decision and we are left with no choice but to challenge it in court. We are determined to get justice for thousands of people across the country."
There were furious protests across the country in November 2006 after NICE decreed that Aricept, along with Novartis' Exelon and Shire's Reminyl, should only be prescribed for patients with moderate Alzheimer's. A fourth drug, Lundbeck's Ebixa, indicated for the late on-set of the disease, is to be barred from the NHS altogether.
Andrew Dillon, NICE's chief executive, commented:"We are disappointed that Eisai has taken this step. We consider its claim without foundation and it will require us to divert energy and funding from the work we do to support patients and health professionals and get the most out of the resources available to the NHS."
Dillon stressed: "The reality is that, for Alzheimer's, drugs are only part of the care that needs to be offered. Non-drug interventions have an important part to play and the evidence indicates that drugs are simply not effective for some patients."
The Eisai move follows a two-year battle over whether people should have access to these drugs on the NHS, at an average cost of £2.50 a day.
