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NICE to rule on Alzheimer's drug efficacy

Date published: 20/12/2005

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is to review a ban planned on Alzheimer's treatments. NICE had rules earlier in the year that anti-cholinesterase drugs, which reports put as costing £1,000 per patient per year, are not cost-effective. But the agency delayed a full ban, allowing pharmaceutical companies to come forward with more information.

Lucy Betterton, spokesperson for NICE, told Reuters: "We don't think these drugs are clinically cost effective, based on the evidence we have seen. But if drug manufacturers have got additional data that might identify sub-groups of patients that particularly benefit, we would like to see it." In response to the original decision, Pfizer and Eisai resubmitted medical information to NICE concerning their drug Aricept.

The firms said that the drug was more cost-effective than previously believed, with new research showing that the drug improved cognition in non-responders.

The firms said that they could not predict which people would show cognitive improvements, but claimed that 30 to 68 per cent of people were respond according to NICE requirements. Earlier studies claimed that the use of anti-dementia drugs could put off Alzheimer's sufferers from moving into a nursing home for over a year.

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