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Banned Alzheimer drugs are better than we thought
Last updated at 23:37pm on 14.05.07
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Alzheimer's drugs banned by the NHS for not being "cost-effective" could have a significant effect on the brain of some dementia patients, research has revealed.
It shows the drugs cut down the amount of proteins linked to damaging brain plaques - even in patients in the first stages of Alzheimer's.
The findings will be a boost to campaigners who are due to take the Government's "rationing" body to court next month over the ban.
In an unprecedented legal challenge - funded with £230,000 raised by Daily Mail readers - the Alzheimer's Society will ask for a court order to overturn the decision by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
NICE ruled that three anti-cholinesterase drugs - Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl - should only be used to treat moderate stages of the disease. It also ruled that the drug Ebixa should be used only in clinical studies.
The rationing body said the drugs "did not make enough of a difference for us to recommend their use for treating all stages of Alzheimer's disease" and were not costeffective - at £2.50 a day.
But the research, which was published in the journal Neurology yesterday, shows the cholinesterase inhibitors have a beneficial effect on the brain.
Levels of the proteins a-amyloid (Aa) and tau were measured in sufferers with Lewy bodies dementia - the second leading cause of degenerative dementia in the elderly.
Patients prescribed the drugs were found to have up to 70 per cent fewer of the proteins linked to brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
Professor Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer's Society, which led the study, said: "We knew there may be some reduction in the levels of Aa among people prescribed cholinesterase drugs, but the sheer magnitude of the reduction was a real surprise.
"The study looked at dementia with Lewy bodies but Aa is also a hallmark in Alzheimer's disease. The results suggest that if we want to slow down the progression of these diseases, the earlier we start prescribing these treatments the better.
"Our study indicates cholinesterase inhibitors go beyond a symptomatic benefit for people with dementia and also modify the disease in the brain."
Chief Executive Neil Hunt said: "People with Alzheimer's disease and their carers have known about the life-changing benefits of these drugs for some time now and this study provides the first hard evidence of the physical benefits of the same treatments.
"It is completely unethical that this sole lifeline is being snatched away from people in the name of economic efficacy. NICE's process in this case was fatally flawed and we look forward to challenging it in court."
During the judicial review, which is expected to last four days, the High Court will hear representations from drug manufacturers, doctors and patients.
It follows an unsuccessful appeal to an internal review body, and is the first time a NICE decision has been challenged in court.
It could have major implications for the way NICE operates and will affect thousands of patients.
Reader views (1)
I don't know which is worse: some NHS bureaucrat preventing front line Doctors prescribing drugs they feel would help their patients, or having to raise such a massive amount of money, over £230,000, just to ask a court what they think of the situation.
- Threaded, Roskilde
