Alzheimer’s drug too dear for UK health service

A new Alzheimer’s drug has been rejected for widespread NHS use in England by the UK’s health spending watchdog. Although donanemab, manufactured by Eli Lilly, was approved by the UK’s medical safety regulator (MHRA), the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) found the drug did not have enough benefit to patients to justify its (significant) cost. The news will be disappointing for patients, families and campaigners who had hoped donanemab (and its sister drug produced by Eisai, lecanemab) could be a game-changer for slowing down the effects of the disease. But it’s worth taking in the announcement alongside a new New York Times investigation which raises fundamental concerns about the risk of potentially fatal brain injuries in the clinical trials of amyloid-lowering drugs like donanemab and lecanemab. A new analysis also suggests patients taking lecanemab had a higher mortality rate than that of similarly aged untreated US Alzheimer’s patients.