Alzheimer's Society: "Unethical" for drugs to be denied
Tuesday, 15 May 2007 14:45
Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, has said that new research showing benefits of drugs banned to some people with Alzheimer's disease provides "hard evidence" that they should be available to all.
The cholinesterase drugs donepezil, rivastagmine and galantamine work by protecting the communication process between brain cells from plaques and tangles caused by certain proteins.
But the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) recommended last year that they should only be available to people in the moderate stages of the disease.
A new study published in the journal Neurology found that when people were prescribed the cholinesterase treatments they had a 70 per cent reduction in beta amyloid – a protein linked to harmful plaque – in the brain in comparison to people who had not received the drugs.
On June 25th a judicial review of Nice's decision will be undertaken at the high court.
"People with Alzheimer's disease and their carers have known about the life-changing benefits of these drugs for some time now and this study provides the first hard evidence of the physical benefits of the same treatments," said Mr Hunt.
"It is completely unethical that this sole lifeline is being snatched away from people in the name of economic efficacy. Nice's process in this case was fatally flawed, and we look forward to challenging it in court."