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Alzheimer's sufferers lose £500,000 drug cash in court fight
Last updated at 00:22am on 02.03.07More than £500,000 of Health Service money could be spent defending the decision to deny drugs to thousands of Alzheimer's sufferers - enough to fund treatment for all those who need it.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which has ruled that dementia drugs costing £2.50 a day are too expensive, has admitted a legal challenge could cost it more than £100,000.
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• Mail launches campaign to end restrictions on Alzheimer's drugs
But if the rationing watchdog loses a High Court case, the bill would rise to £500,000 because it may be made to pay the other parties' costs.
That would be enough for a year's supply of the drugs for all 50,000 Alzheimer's patients who would benefit from them.
Geoff Martin, from the pressure group Health Emergency, said: "It is breathtaking that health chiefs can decide to spend taxpayers' money on fighting legal cases at a time when the NHS is so desperately short of cash."
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said yesterday: "This is a crazy waste of money which could be spent ensuring quicker access to drugs. For many sufferers and their carers these drugs are a lifeline."
The money for a legal bill would come out of NICE's budget, which could delay the approval of vital medicines for use in the Health Service.
Drugs to be appraised by the watchdog include Tykerb, which can give precious extra months of life to those in the late stages of breast cancer.
NICE has ruled that three Alzheimer's drugs - Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl - will only be available on the NHS to patients with moderate symptoms. A fourth, Ebixa, is banned for all.
The Alzheimer's Society says the restrictions will mean patients are denied drugs at the time they could most benefit from them.
The Daily Mail is running a campaign to help the charity mount a High Court challenge to overturn NICE's decision. The drug companies Eisai and Pfizer are also challenging the restrictions but are not contributing to the society's legal costs.
If the case goes to court, NICE expects to spend more than "100,000. Should it lose, and be ordered to pay all the other parties' costs, the total bill could be "500,000. Appealing against the decision would be even more expensive.
NICE said its legal bills would have to be paid from its "31.3million annual budget, which comes from the Department of Health. It could also not guarantee that its appraisal of other drugs would be unaffected.
Chief executive Andrew Dillon said: "We will have to fund our own legal costs, which will require us to use money that would otherwise have been invested in the work we do to support patients and health professionals to get the most out of the resources available to the NHS."
Reader views (4)
So NICE is spending money on lawyers which in turn will delay evaluation of other drugs saving more money! This is real joined up Government!
- Dave, London, England
£10bn on the Olympics or £500,000 for Alzheimer's drugs - you decide!
- Jane, London
On the day there is a report that lawyers have cynically steered divorcing couples away from mediation into litigation with resultant large legal fees, the NHS decides to spend £500,000 on fighting a case to avoid having to prescribe drugs for Alzheimer's patients which will increase the quality of their lives.
How many patients could be treated with £500,000 and for how long?
The drugs are apparently available on the NHS in Scotland and Wales but not in England. If these drugs were only availabe to a specific ethnic group, or a gender group, there would be an outcry.
- Patricia, London
It really is implausible, drugs banned by NICE for sufferers in England are available to those with identical illnesses in Scotland and Wales. Drugs for bone cancer and Alzheimers are available on the NHS in both Provinces - on those facts why should we have Scotish and Welsh politicians sitting in our parliament or governing England?
- Robert, Hull, East Yorks.,
