Eisai launch legal challenge over Alzheimer’s drugs

Pharmaceutical firms Eisai and Pfizer have announced that they will seek a high court judicial review of the decision by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to limit the supply of those companies treatment available on the NHS.

NICE earlier announced in October that appeals against its decision to restrict the supply of donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine to patients with moderate Alzheimer’s disease, preventing the NHS supply of the drugs to patient with mild forms of the disease, had been rejected.

The appeal panel of NICE has also rejected a joint appeal letter from the Alzheimer’s Society, Age Councern, Counsel and Care, the Dementia Care trust and the Royal College of Nursing.

Dr Paul Hooper, managing director of Eisai, said: “We are deeply concerned about the way that NICE’s decision on treatment recommendations for early Alzheimer’s disease was reached.”

The companies contend that it was unfair that NICE had not disclosed a comprehensive account of its cost-effectiveness model used in its deliberations, Bloomberg reports, which led to the belief that the institute’s decision was “irrational” and could not be backed in law.

It is the first time that NICE have been legally challenged in this manner.