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The licence holder of Aricept (donepezil), Eisai, and its co-promotion partner, Pfizer, have announced they will be taking the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to court to establish how it reached its conclusions. The companies are now calling on NICE to postpone issuing its new guidance to the NHS on 22nd November as planned.

In October, NICE rejected an appeal over its guidance that Aricept (donepezil), Reminyl (galantamine) or Exelon (rivastigmine) should be denied to patients in the mild and severe stages of the disease. A fourth drug, Ebixa (memantine) would not be generally available to those in the later stages of the disease.

Eisai and Pfizer are concerned about the methods used by NICE to determine the value of treatments to patients and say NICE has failed to disclose a fully working economic model so that this could be independently evaluated.

Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of the UK’s largest dementia research charity, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said: “We are delighted to hear that these drug companies will be seeking a judicial review. NICE's wrong-headed decision has been an appalling insult to the thousands of families up and down the country whose lives have been blighted by Alzheimer's disease.”

She continued, “There is overwhelming evidence showing that these drugs work and are good value for money. If this ruling goes ahead it will just exacerbate the time-ticking bomb of an ageing Britain." Speaking of the benefits that the drugs offer for £2.50 a day, Wood added, "While the current drugs are effective and should be available to NHS patients, they are not a cure. That is why more work is needed to find newer, better medications."

The NICE ruling is due to affect all new Alzheimer’s patients trying to access these drugs on the NHS from 22nd November. Current patients already being prescribed any of these drugs are likely to have their medication continued until doctors consider, as per normal medical practice, that it is appropriate that the drugs be withdrawn.