Drug treatments for people with Alzheimer's disease should be made available on the NHS – new study finds

The study was presented at the International Conference of Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD).

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) currently recommends that people in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease be denied access to drug treatments on the NHS because of cost. Researchers used a new economic model to draw conclusions that the drugs are cost effective and should be made available to people in the UK.

Alzheimer's Society comment:

'The current model used by NICE to evaluate drug treatments for dementia is fundamentally flawed and must be changed. We welcome new research into finding a more accurate way of evaluating the benefits of drugs treatments for people with dementia and look forward to a new suggested model being peer reviewed and investigated further.'

Professor Clive Ballard
Director of Research
Alzheimer's Society

Reference:

P3-224 - Updated Cost-Effectiveness Projections for Donepezil in the Treatment of Patients with Mild to Moderately Severe Alzheimer's Disease in the UK.

• Visit www.alzheimers.org.uk/icad for the latest Alzheimer's Society responses to news from the conference.
• Visit www.alz.org/icad the official website of ICAD, the world's leading forum on dementia research.