BMJ  2007;334:654-655 (31 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39168.342523.DB

News

NICE faces legal challenge over Alzheimer's drug

Clare Dyer, legal correspondent

BMJ

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

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the NHS drugs gatekeeper for England and Wales, faces the first legal challenge to one of its decisions restricting the use of a drug by the NHS.

The High Court gave the go ahead this week to a drug company to bring judicial review proceedings over restrictions on the use of donepezil (Aricept), which is used to treat Alzheimer's disease.

Guidance from NICE, which does cost-benefit analyses to decide which drugs should be available on the NHS and for what conditions, is that the drug may be prescribed for moderate Alzheimer's disease but not for early or late stages of the disease.

The Japanese biotechnology company Eisai, the licence holder for Aricept, backed by its co-promotion partner, Pfizer, was this week granted permission to challenge the guidance restricting use of the drug, which costs about £2.50 ({euro}3.68; $4.90) a day.

. . . [Full text of this article]


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Bruni, R. A. BA BScN, Laupacis, A. MD MSc, Martin, D. K. PhD, for the University of Toronto Priority Setting in, (2008). Public engagement in setting priorities in health care. CMAJ 179: 15-18 [Full text]  
  • Collier, J. (2008). Parliamentary review asks NICE to do better still. BMJ 336: 56-57 [Full text]  

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