UK Alzheimer’s drug fight goes before appeal court
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A test case legal battle over funding for Alzheimer’s drugs in Britain went before the Court of Appeal on Monday, pitching Japan’s Eisai Co Ltd against the healthcare cost effectiveness watchdog NICE.
Eisai and its marketing partner Pfizer Inc are contesting curbs imposed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the use of Alzheimer’s drugs within the state-run National Health Service.
The hearing is scheduled to last two days, after which the appeal court is expected to give its decision in writing at a later date.
The two drugmakers, which co-promote the market-leading treatment Aricept, lost an earlier High Court fight last August. They are trying to overturn a NICE ruling that drugs like Aricept should not be paid for by the state health service for treating the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Drugmakers and patient groups took legal action to try to prove NICE’s decision-making was flawed, but the High Court in London upheld its restrictions on use of the drugs, which cost around $5 a day.
Anti-cholinesterase drugs such as Aricept can help but not cure some Alzheimer’s patients. Other products affected by NICE’s decision include Exelon from Novartis AG, Ebixa from Lundbeck A/S and Reminyl from Shire Plc, which is sold elsewhere by Johnson & Johnson as Razadyne.
LONDON (Reuters)
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