6:04pm Tuesday 27th February 2007
THE Northern Echo is urging readers to back a new fighting fund set up by the Alzheimer's Society to win justice for dementia sufferers.
Last October this newspaper launched its Dont Stop Dementia Drugs campaign.
The aim was to support the Alzheimers Society in their bid to overturn new restrictions on a range of anti-dementia drugs.
Despite the opposition of sufferers, their families and virtually all of their consultants the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) decided to restrict access to three drugs Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl which used to be available to people in the early stages of dementia.
Now patients can only get the drug when their mild dementia progresses, causing misery to thousands of patients and their carers.
Since the campaign's launch, this newspaper has passed on petitions and email printouts from more than 3,000 readers calling on the Department of Health to restore the full range aspect to the campaign.
The Alzheimer's Society has set up a fighting fund to raise £30,000 to cover the legal costs of mounting a challenge to the NICE decision in the High Court.
The drug companies Pfizer and Eisai have said they are making a separate challenge but the Alzheimers Society has decided to take on NICE in its own right.
Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "The NICE decision ignores the benefits of these treatments offer legions of unpaid carers and the millions of pounds they save the country every year."
Yesterday, four months after the Echo blazed the trail, The Daily Mail announced it was also backing the Alzheimer's Society's campaign to restore access to anti-dementia drugs.
Last night a spokeswoman for the society said: "We are thrilled so many people in the North-East and nationally are recognising the importance of securing access to these treatments."
Ken Clasper, a dementia sufferer from Chester-le-Street, County Durham, who has benefited from being on one of the recently restricted drugs, said last night: "It is brilliant that the Daily Mail has jumped on the bandwagon started by the Echo. It has really become a national campaign now."
*Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Alzheimers Society fighting fund should visit www.alzheimers.org.uk or ring the hotline on 0845 3060898 during office hours.
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