A new Alzheimer’s “wonder drug” has been approved for use in the US but insiders claim it will “definitely” be rejected for use in the UK.
In the US, the FDA approved a new Alzheimer’s treatment in July 2024 called donanemab.
The treatment is for people with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, including mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia.
The approval was based on an 18-month study that found that patients who received the treatment declined in memory and cognitive ability about 22 percent more slowly than those who received a placebo infusion.
The drug, by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, is currently awaiting approval in the UK.
But insiders told The Telegraph last month that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) would “definitely” reject donanemab being used by the NHS.
It comes after NICE rejected another Alzheimer’s drug, lecanemab, from being used, citing its high costs do not outweigh the small benefits of the drug.
Sources say it would be unlikely for NICE to approve donanemab after setting a precedent with lecanemab as the new drug is likely to cost even more to administer – around £50,000 and £100,000 per year.
The government pledged to give “rapid, often near-automatic sign-off for medicines and technologies already approved by trusted regulators in other parts of the world such as the United States, Europe and Japan.”
But months after the FDA’s approval of the use of donanemab in the US, they are yet to decide if it will be suitable for use in the UK.
In July, the FDA granted approval for donanemab in the US following a unanimous vote from its advisory panel, which concluded that the drug provides “clinical benefit” in treating Alzheimer’s disease.
Express.co.uk has approached the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for comment.