BMJ  2007;335:11 (7 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.39265.593796.4E

News

Lawyers claim "concession" over drug prescribing for Alzheimer's disease

Clare Dyer, legal correspondent

BMJ

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

NHS doctors have the discretion to prescribe dementia drugs for patients whose cognitive function scores indicate mild Alzheimer's disease, despite guidance apparently restricting their use to patients with moderate disease, a lawyer for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) told the High Court last week.

Lawyers for the Alzheimer's Society, which is fighting NICE guidance that limits the use of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors to patients with moderate disease, hailed the statement as a "dramatic concession."

But NICE said it was not a concession, but simply an explanation of how its guidance works.

"Healthcare professionals are expected to take NICE guidance fully into account when exercising their clinical judgment, but our guidance does not override their individual responsibility to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient or guardian or carer," said a spokesman.

The clarification emerged during a High Court challenge . . . [Full text of this article]


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