Drug companies team up to fight NICE Alzheimer’s ruling

Some of the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest names are meeting to come up with a unified response to NICE’s decision to not provide treatment on the NHS for mild and newly-diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Pfizer, Novartis, Lundbeck and Eisai, as well as Shire, the UK’s third largest pharmaceutical company, will meet with the Alzheimer’s Society to discuss the possibility of launching a unified appeal against the decision, according to the Independent.

NICE’s decision, which it claims was based on drug data from pharmaceutical companies and cost-effectiveness analyses, was roundly condemned by the Alzheimer’s Society and companies producing drugs for AD.

According to PharmaTimes, Eisai described the decision as “perverse”, while Lundbeck, the Danish pharmaceuticals company, said that the decision discriminates against the most vulnerable patient groups.

Dr Ian Howe, Shire’s medical director, commented: “Withdrawing drug treatments on the NHS for people diagnosed with mild AD is a grave error as clinical trials demonstrate that mild AD patients benefit significantly with measurable improvements in cognition and the ability to continue to participate in activities of daily living.”

The Alzheimer’s Society stated that the decision was “destroying lives” for the sake of 2.50 pounds a day of treatment costs. Dr Clive Ballard, an old age psychiatrist, said: “Doctors will also be forced into the impossible position of watching patients deteriorate before they prescribe drugs they know will help.”

He asked: “For what other condition would you wait until people decline so much they can no longer look after themselves before giving them treatment?”

The Independent reports that the Alzheimer’s Society is holding a picket outside the Department of Health today.

© Adfero Ltd