UK's NICE does about turn on Alzheimer's drugs but unable to recommend Merck & Co/J&J's psoriatic arthritis drug Simponi

The UK drugs watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) this morning announced new draft guidance which represents a U-turn on previous decisions and a significant step towards ensuring patients with Alzheimer’s disease in England and Wales receive treatment for their condition under the National Health Service, from the early stages of disease.

New draft NICE guidance recommends that acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, namely Japanese drug major Eisai’s Aricept (donepezil), UK drugmaker Shire’s Reminyl (galantamine) and Swiss major Novartis’ Exelon (rivastigmine), be made available for mild, as well as moderate disease. It also recommends the use of memantine (Danish drugmaker Lundbeck’s Ebixa) for severe disease and for some patients with moderate disease. This is a significant change to an earlier 2006 NICE ruling which restricted access to these medicines for patients with moderate disease only. The draft NICE recommendations on Alzheimer’s disease treatment will now go into consultation, with final guidance expected in early 2011.

This is something of a victory for the drugmakers, which have challenged the 2006 ruling through legal appeals and judicial reviews. The formula used by the NICE to calculate how much "value for money" the drugs offer to the NHS was then the subject of a court action by the Alzheimer's Society and pharmaceutical companies.