UK's NICE appeal, consultation deadline

The UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) will hold a hearing over two days for five appeals against the agency's policy on treatments for Alzheimer's disease (Marketletters passim).

The appeals concern Japanese drugmaker Eisai and global behemoth Pfizer's Aricept (donepezil), Swiss drug major Novartis' Exelon (rivastigmine) and USA-based Johnson & Johnson's Reminyl (galantamine). The current guidance meant these are recommended for use by National Health Service patients, but not until the disease has reached a "moderate stage" and not in advanced cases either.

In seperate news, the deadline for appeals against the NICE's recent ruling on Swiss drug major Roche's Herceptin (trastuzumab) for early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer passed on June 28 (Marketletters passim). According to a statement by the NICE, the UK's Department of Health has "made it clear that there are no national restrictions on the National Health Service using Herceptin in the interim and that the draft guidance provides a strong steer that Primary Care Trusts can take into account in their considerations."