Don't Stop Dementia Drugs
Court challenge over dementia drugs ban
ALZHEIMER'S patients in the North-East could hear this week if a ruling not to continue funding anti-dementia drugs on the NHS is to be overturned.
A legal challenge by drug companies, supported by the Alzheimer's Society, starts in the High Court today.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) made its recommendations because it said the drug treatment was shown to be not particularly effective for people with mild Alzheimer's, and resources should be put into other treatments available on the NHS.
The Northern Echo has been at the forefront of moves to have the drugs, which cost £2.50 for a day's supply, prescribed to everyone who needs them.
The four-day case before Mrs Justice Dobbs at London's High Court centres on the use of acetyl cholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) in the treatment of Alzheimer's.
Nice recommended that three anti-cholinesterase drugs - Aricept (donepezil), Exelon (rivastigmine) and Reminyl (galantamine) - should not be prescribed for use by patients in the early stages of the disease.
The Alzheimer's Society says it strongly believes the process used by Nice to reach its decision was ''fundamentally flawed".
It said Nice had acknowledged the drugs worked, but said they were not cost-effective.
Neil Hunt, the society's chief executive, said: ''People with Alzheimer's disease and their carers have fought long and hard for their day in court.
''These treatments have benefited so many families already - where is the justice in Nice's decision to snatch them away?
''Another 100,000 people will develop dementia this year alone, and the result of this case will affect not only them, but their families too.
''We have to fight Nice's fatally-flawed process, which has failed to recognise the benefits these treatments have for carers.''
Evidence from Alzheimer's sufferers and their carers will form part of the evidence in the legal challenge.
Commenting on the start of the judicial review hearing, Andrew Dillon, chief executive of Nice, said: "Non-drug interventions have an important part to play and the evidence indicates that drugs are simply not effective for some patients.
"That is why, in November 2006, along with the Social Care Institute for Excellence, we issued joint guidance on the treatment and care of people with all forms of dementia and the support that should be provided for carers."
5:05am Monday 25th June 2007
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