Judge fast-tracks dementia review

10:37am Tuesday 26th June 2007

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A RULING denying treatment to tens of thousands of Alzheimer's patients could be overturned as soon as next month after a judge last night ordered a fast-track review of the decision.

The High Court said a judicial review to challenge the withdrawal of Alzheimer's drugs would be heard as soon as possible because of its public importance and "exceptional urgency".

The decision clears the way for two drug companies, Eisai and Pfiser, to challenge the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (Nice) ruling that Alzheimer's drug treatments should not be funded for sufferers in the early stages of the disease.

It will be the first time Nice has been challenged in the courts.

The hearing has been set for June 25 and is expected to last four days.

The move gives hope to more than 12,000 sufferers who could be denied the treatment in the next few months and many more who may need Alzheimer's drugs in the future.

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.

Yesterday's decision was hailed by campaigners as an important victory.

Ivan Garnham, from County Durham, who cares for his wife, Hilary, said: "I am overjoyed by the decision. The situation as it stands is deplorable.

"I shudder to think what life would have been like for my wife without these drugs."

In October last year, The Northern Echo, with the Alzheimer's Society, launched a campaign to overturn Nice's decision. More than 3,500 people signed the paper's Don't Stop Dementia Drugs petition, which was handed to the Government.

In March 2005, Nice ruled that four Alzheimer's drugs were not cost-effective enough to be prescribed.

After an unprecedented response, Nice changed its position to allow only patients with more advanced symptoms access to the treatments.

However, campaigners say the drugs are vital to people in the early stages of Alzheimer's, when they are most aware - and most distressed - by the effects of the disease.

In the High Court yesterday, James Goudie QC said that the case had huge implications for thousands of people's lives and should be heard "as soon as reasonably possible".

Nice had been trying to delay the hearing until at least mid-October, but the court heard that another 12,000 Alzheimer's sufferers would be refused the drugs between June and October.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Today brings us a step closer in our fight for justice for people with Alzheimer's disease. As many as 100,000 people will develop dementia this year alone.

"We look forward to challenging (Nice's decision) in court."

Dementia sufferer Ken Clasper, from Chester-le-Street, said: "These drugs have given me my life back. It is not the way it was, but it has given me freedom.

I think this decision is brilliant."

Mr Garnham described what it was like watching his wife, Hilary, suffer with dementia.

"The early stages are the hardest part, when the patient is mentally aware of the symptoms and suffers hallucinations. It is terrible. When Hilary was prescribed one the drugs, called Aricept, in the early stages, it was magic.

"If Alzheimer's was something that happened suddenly it would be totally devastating, but it creeps downhill all the time. It is an awful situation to see somebody you have loved and been married to for all this time going downhill."

Nice said it was devoting considerable resources to fighting its case and the drugs concerned were not "wonder drugs".

Andrew Dillon, chief executive, said: "The reality is that, for Alzheimer's disease, drugs are only part of the care that needs to be offered. Non-drug interventions have an important part to play and the evidence indicates that drugs are simply not effective for some patients."