Alzheimer’s drug battle begins at high court

A two-year fight for drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease to be made available on the NHS reaches the high court today.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) recommended in 2001 that the drugs donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine should be available to all Alzheimer’s patients.

But after a subsequent review of the original guidance in 2005 Nice said that there was not enough evidence to support the use of the drugs for all patients.

Although it acknowledged that the drugs were clinically effective, Nice decided they were not cost effective enough to be given to people in the early stages of the disease. The drugs cost the NHS ?2.50 per patient, per day.

In what is the first judicial review of Nice, the Alzheimer’s Society will argue in the high court today that the process used by Nice was fundamentally flawed.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “People with Alzheimer’s disease and their carers have fought long and hard for their day in court. These treatments have benefited so many families already ? where is the justice in Nice’s decision to snatch them away?

“Another 100,000 people will develop dementia this year alone and the result of this case will affect not only them but their families too. We have to fight Nice’s fatally flawed process, which has failed to recognise the benefits these treatments have for carers.”

During the four-day hearing the court will hear representations from dementia experts, patient representatives and drug manufacturers.

One in three older people will end their lives with some form of dementia and about 700,000 people in the UK have some form of dementia ? half of which have Alzheimer’s disease.