Drugmakers win appeal over Alzheimer curbs

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - An appeals court on Thursday ruled the country's healthcare cost-effectiveness watchdog had acted unfairly in the way it decided to curb access to Alzheimer's drugs, in a victory for drugmakers and patients.

The move will let manufacturers renew their challenge to National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) limits on the use of drugs on the state health service to treat the mild early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

Japan's Eisai Co, which markets the top-selling treatment Aricept with Pfizer and has been waging a legal fight against the NICE decision, welcomed the news.

Three judges said NICE had been procedurally wrong in the run-up to its recommendation that the National Health Service should cease funding the 2.50 pounds-a-day drugs for early-stage patients, because it failed to share details of its economic modelling.

The ruling does not oblige NICE to make the drugs more widely available but Eisai will now get full details of NICE's computer model and be able to make a new submission.

"As soon as we have reviewed their cost-effectiveness calculations we will submit any new findings to NICE," Nick Burgin, managing director of Eisai's UK business, said.

"We hope that this action will ultimately restore access to anti-dementia medicines for those patients at the mild stages of Alzheimer's disease."

Eisai had lost an earlier High Court fight last August.