UK anger over NICE ruling on Alzheimer

A guidance by the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the prescribing of drugs for treating Alzheimer's disease has provoked a storm of criticism from patient groups and drug firms, but was defended by some doctors.

The Final Appraisal Determination, which the NICE had issued in January for Japanese drugmaker Eisai and global behemoth Pfizer's Aricept (donepezil), Swiss drug major Novartis' Exelon (rivastigmine) and USA-based Johnson & Johnson's Reminyl (galantamine), meant these are recommended for use by National Health Service patients, but not until the disease has reached a "moderate stage" (Marketletter January 30). The final guidance to the NHS merely confirms the NICE's earlier ruling.

NICE proposal is "perverse"