The most effective drug to date for treating Alzheimer’s disease is to be banned from the NHS today.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is expected to declare donanemab safe for use.
Donanemab is said to be a game-changer for Alzheimer’s disease. Studies have shown that it slows progression by 35 percent.
But the National Institute for Excellence in Medical Research (Nice) has decided that it is too expensive, the Daily Telegraph reported last night.
Under Nice guidelines, patients will only be able to obtain either drug from private clinics unless they are participating in a clinical trial, as health insurance is unlikely to cover the cost.
Professor Sir John Hardy, a leading neurology researcher at UCL, felt the drug was “game-changing” and said Mr Nice was “on the wrong side of the debate”. said.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency plans to declare donanemab safe for use (File image)
Professor Hardy was the first to identify the role of amyloid in Alzheimer’s disease, and drugs are now being developed that work by removing the protein.
he said. times: “Thanks to these drugs, people can spend two more years at home instead of in a nursing home. It’s time to enjoy life and have holidays, which is important.
“These are finely balanced arguments, but I think they are on the wrong side.
“I also think the benefit of approval is that dementia care in the NHS is going to ramp up, which really needs to happen. “These drugs will come at some point, but I think the NHS will be ready to deal with them.” I don’t think it’s done.”
Around one million people in the UK live with dementia, including one in six people aged over 80, with the majority of care being provided by loved ones or privately. expenses are paid.
However, Nice excludes these “non-medical” care costs in its decision-making.
Estimates suggest the UK spends around £42bn a year on dementia, and forecasters say this could rise to £90bn by 2040.
The decision on donanemab will mirror that in August, when lecanemab, the first breakthrough treatment for this condition, was approved.
Lilly, the maker of lecanemab, estimates the drug will cost $32,000 (£24,600) in the US, about 25 per cent more than its original breakthrough drug.
Donanemab is said to be a game-changer for Alzheimer’s disease
However, it has the advantage that a one-hour intravenous injection every two weeks takes just 30 minutes each month, reducing administration costs for the NHS.
The total cost of donanemab treatment in the US (including monitoring and scans) averages $78,000 (£60,000) per patient per year.
If the targeted amyloid protein in the brain can be properly removed, patients can stop taking the drug.
However, lecanemab is given indefinitely until the disease reaches a moderate stage.
The trial also showed that donamab was more effective than lecanemab, as it slowed cognitive decline by 27% versus 35%.
Almost half of the participants in the donemab group had no clinical disease progression after one year, compared with 29% of participants in the placebo group.
The study also found that patients were at higher risk of side effects when taking the drug, with twice as many patients suffering from cerebral hemorrhage or brain swelling.
Charities and drug companies say patients will miss out on the best new treatments unless the NHS fundamentally changes the way it calculates the value of medicines.
In August, the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK wrote to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, saying: “We need to support rapid and fair access to new generation treatments.”
And this week, Chris Stokes, UK general manager of Eli Lilly & Company, which makes donanemab, told Nice the economic and social benefits of the treatment, including ease of return to work and the need for carers. He urged them to consider reducing their gender.
Mr Stokes told the Sunday Times: “If we don’t bring broader values into the discussion, there is a real risk that patients will miss out on innovative treatments.”
