The regulatory body that decides which treatments the NHS should pay for was accused of “irrational” decision making in the High Court this week for denying drugs to patients in the mild stage of Alzheimer's disease.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which issues its guidance on the basis of cost benefit analyses, is facing its first legal challenge to a decision to restrict a drug's availability on the NHS.

The unprecedented case was brought to the High Court in London this week by two drug companies and by the Alzheimer's Society, representing patients and carers.

NICE's guidance last year meant that nearly 100 000 patients a year in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland with mild Alzheimer's disease were no …