The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is to look again at its decision not to fund Alzheimer’s disease drugs lecanemab and donanemab for use on the NHS. An appeal has found that NICE failed to properly account for the wider impact of the treatments, including on unpaid carers, when calculating the cost…
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC)’s second assessment of new Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab has aligned with their original decision (that we reported on here https://journalofdementiacare.co.uk/smc-reject-lecanemab-for-use-in-nhs-in-scotland) maintaining that lecanemab won’t be used in the NHS in Scotland. This aligns with the view of NICE (which we covered here: https://journalofdementiacare.co.uk/nice-publish-final-draft-guidance-on-lecanemab-and-donanemab) when considering lecanemab for use in the NHS…
Further to The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) publishing draft guidance for public consultation about Alzheimer’s treatments donanemab and lecanemab (that we reported on here: https://journalofdementiacare.co.uk/nice-publish-further-draft-guidance-on-lecanemab-and-donanemab), NICE has published final draft guidance that continues to not recommend donanemab and lecanemab for use on the NHS. Explaining the decision, Helen Knight, NICE Director…
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published further draft guidance for public consultation that continues to not recommend Alzheimer’s treatments donanemab and lecanemab for use on the NHS. You can read more from NICE here: https://www.nice.org.uk/news/articles/second-consultation-launched-on-nhs-funding-for-alzheimer-s-treatments We covered the 2024 licencing and NHS use announcements on lecanemab here: https://journalofdementiacare.co.uk/mhra-licence-lecanemab-for-use-in-the-uk. The most…
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has rejected new Alzheimer’s drug, lecanemab, for use in the NHS in Scotland. This aligns with the view of NICE (which we covered here: https://journalofdementiacare.co.uk/mhra-licence-lecanemab-for-use-in-the-uk) when considering lecanemab for use in the NHS in England and Wales. The reasons given by the SMC are similar to NICE. Anyone eligible for…
NICE publish draft guidance not recommending it for NHS use One of the new generation of drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, lecanemab, has been licenced by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for prescription by doctors in Britain. Read more about the MHRA decision here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lecanemab-licensed-for-adult-patients-in-the-early-stages-of-alzheimers-disease National Institute for Health and Care Excellence…
The UK Government has sent a letter to Baroness Casey to update her on progress with her adult social care reform recommendations, including her call for urgent action on dementia care (which we reported on here: https://journalofdementiacare.co.uk/baroness-casey-speech-highlights-urgent-need-for-reform-of-dementia-care). The letter from the Department of Health and Social Care updated Baroness Casey on the progress that has…
A review of clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease drugs has been published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions. Entitled ‘Alzheimer’s disease drug development pipeline: 2026’, this is the latest annual review from Dr Jeffrey Cummings, from the University of Nevada, who has published reviews for the past decade that look at clinical…
Maria Parsons and Suzanne Mumford give their perspectives from the Alzheimer’s Disease International 2026 conference held in France in April 2026. Maria Pasiecznik Parsons is the Development Lead for Dementia Community. Suzanne Mumford is Director of Clinical and Dementia Care at KYN and a Director of Dementia Community. Parsons, M. and Mumford, S. (2026) ‘Alzheimer’s…...
A Cochrane review has been published that analysed amyloid-targeting drugs for Alzheimer’s disease. The review looked at data from 17 clinical trials into seven anti-amyloid drugs, including lecanemab and donanemab. The trials involved more than 20,000 people in both successful and unsuccessful trials. The review’s conclusion is that the treatments in these trials had no…