Alzheimer drug ruling challenge

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Eisai Co Ltd and Pfizer Inc., which jointly sell Aricept, said they would seek a judicial review by the High Court of the decision by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

It would be the first time that the agency in charge of deciding which medicines are offered in the National Health Service in England and Wales faces such legal action.

Paul Hooper, managing director of Eisai in Britain, said his company had been left with no option, given what he described as the "unfair" and "flawed" actions of NICE. NICE rejected a final appeal last month, arguing that all the evidence suggested drugs such as Aricept, Reminyl from Shire Plc or Exelon from Novartis AG did not make enough of a difference to be used at all stages of Alzheimer's disease.

In future, they will be prescribed only for a minority of patients with disease of moderate severity, thereby excluding the largest section of patients with early dementia.

The legal move was welcomed by the Alzheimer's Society, representing patients and their carers, which said the NICE review had been flawed from start to finish.

Anti-cholinesterase drugs such as Aricept can help but not cure some Alzheimer's patients.

They are widely used in other countries, but NICE experts calculate that their cost, around £1,000 per patient a year, means they are not cost-effective for most patients.

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