UK's NICE faces judicial review over Alzheimer's drug refusals for NHS patients

Drug companies are moving to challenge the decision by the National Institute of Clinical Health and Excellence (NICE), the UK advisory body responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of drugs and clinical treatments in England and Wales, to refuse access for National Health Service patients to Aricept (donepezil; Marketletters passim).

Japanese drugmaker Eisai and global giant Pfizer, which co-market the Alzheimer's disease treatment, claim that the decision by the NICE to restrict NHS patient access to Aricept in cases of "moderate" AD cannot be supported legally and is "irrational." Eisai is calling for the NICE's final appraisal determination to be withdrawn and new guidance due on November 22 to be postponed. Paul Hooper, Eisai's UK managing director, said: we are deeply concerned about the way that [the] NICE's decision on treatment recommendations for early Alzheimer's disease was reached."

Dr Hooper added that "a judicial review is now the only option remaining to us to ensure that [the] NICE reconsiders how it arrived at such flawed conclusions. These [...]will have a devastating impact on the lives of thousands of people affected by this terrible disease."