Alzheimer's Society comment on new research into the use of quality adjusted life year

'Our view was that the NICE model did not measure this appropriately and the result seriously disadvantaged thousands of people in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.  These treatments cost just £2.50 a day, the price of a cup of coffee.

The way NICE decides which treatments are funded is too rigid. Alzheimer's Society has always maintained that, in the case of the Alzheimer's drugs, NICE severely underestimated the benefits the drug treatments bring to carers.

These drugs can save carers an hour a day in carer time, an important reduction in a heavy burden.  We need to drop this 'one size fits all' approach and find a new way of evaluating treatments for conditions like dementia where quality of life is more complex.'

Neil Hunt
Chief Executive
Alzheimer's Society