{"id":196067,"date":"2025-06-19T03:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T03:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196067\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T03:14:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T03:14:11","slug":"nhs-patients-denied-first-drugs-that-treat-alzheimers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196067\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS patients denied first drugs that treat Alzheimer\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ministers are under pressure to \u00adoverhaul the \u201cseriously flawed\u201d NHS medicines watchdog after it refused to approve the first two drugs that treat Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

Charities warned that \u201cthe science is flying but the system is failing\u201d and that patients in the UK were unable to benefit from medical breakthroughs because of a \u201cbroken\u201d system.<\/p>\n

Nice, the health spending watchdog, announced on Wednesday that NHS<\/a> patients would be denied access to \u00adlecanemab and donanemab, as their benefits were \u201ctoo small\u201d to justify the cost. <\/p>\n

The two drugs are the first to treat the underlying cause of Alzheimer\u2019s \u00addisease<\/a>, by clearing toxic amyloid protein from the brain, delaying cognitive \u00addecline by four to six months.<\/p>\n

Had they been approved for NHS use, about 70,000 patients in England in the early stages of Alzheimer\u2019s would have been eligible for the drugs on the NHS. The treatments \u2014 given as a drip \u2014 are already available privately in the UK, costing about \u00a360,000 a year.<\/p>\n

The pharmaceutical firms Lilly, which makes donanemab, and Eisai, the maker of lecanemab, immediately said they were \u201cdismayed\u201d and would appeal against Nice\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

They argued that the watchdog\u2019s \u00adappraisal process failed to take into account the \u201cfull value\u201d of the drugs for the economy, \u00adincluding in relieving costs on caregivers and the wider NHS and care system. <\/p>\n

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Chris Stokes, president of UK, Ireland\u00ad and northern Europe at Lilly, said: \u201cIf the system can\u2019t deliver scientific firsts to NHS patients, it is broken. If the government is to deliver on its goals to reduce lives lost to the biggest killers and put Britain at the forefront of \u00adtransforming treatment for dementia, it must keep pace with \u00adlicensed medical breakthroughs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary Hendler, regional chairman of Eisai, said: \u201cWe feel it is our duty to sound the alarm today that this \u00adappraisal process needs an immediate overhaul so that future medicines may be more appropriately assessed, and patients and their families can have hope regarding future treatments.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 130 new drugs tackling Alzheimer\u2019s are in development around the world. Both \u00adlecanemab and donanemab have potentially \u00addangerous side-effects, including the risk of brain \u00adswelling and bleeding, and experts say new drugs down the line will be \u201csafer and more effective\u201d.<\/p>\n

The NHS is being urged to prepare for a new era of dementia treatment, by providing quick access to specialist \u00addiagnostic tests, which are needed for people to get treatments. <\/p>\n

Fiona Carragher, the \u00adAlzheimer\u2019s Society\u2019s chief policy and research \u00adofficer, said: \u201cThere is no doubt that \u00adtoday\u2019s decision is a setback for people with Alzheimer\u2019s disease. It is highly disappointing that we are in a situation where treatments that slow the \u00adprogression of the condition are not available on the NHS \u2026 In other \u00addiseases like cancer, treatments have become more effective, safer and cheaper over time. It\u2019s essential we see similar progress in dementia. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThe fact is, even if donanemab and lecanemab were made available on the NHS tomorrow, too many patients wouldn\u2019t be able to access them because the health system isn\u2019t ready to deliver them. The science is flying but the system is failing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilary Evans-Newton, chief executive at Alzheimer\u2019s Research UK, said: \u201cThis rejection is a painful setback for people affected by Alzheimer\u2019s \u2026 This decision sends a troubling signal to the life sciences sector, undermining confidence in the UK as a home for research, innovation and clinical trials. That risks lasting damage to both patients and the economy. Nice\u2019s decision should ring alarm bells for a government that, only a year ago, pledged to make the UK a global leader in dementia treatments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at Nice, said: \u201cWhile we recognise the hope these treatments \u00adoffer, the evidence shows they only provide modest benefits at best.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realise today\u2019s news will be disappointing for many, but we now need to focus on the encouraging pipeline of new Alzheimer\u2019s drugs in development, a number of which are already earmarked for Nice evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ministers are under pressure to \u00adoverhaul the \u201cseriously flawed\u201d NHS medicines watchdog after it refused to approve the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-196067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114707854990895992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}