A new £60,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug, said to be the first treatment to slow progression of the memory-robbing disease, is a rip off that results in ‘tiny’ benefits at the cost of deadly risks, experts have warned.
Donanemab has been hailed ‘a new hope’ in the fight against dementia, after research suggested it slowed the memory-robbing illness in its early stages.
Now, one London clinic has become the first in Europe to offer the drug to patients privately for an ‘eye-watering’ annual sum, after the NHS spending watchdog refused to fund it.
According to health chiefs, the benefits of the infusions were ‘not enough’ to justify the cost.
But, experts have warned Britain’s 700,000 Alzheimer’s patients against splashing out on the treatment — sold by Re:Cognition Health in London’s Harley Street.
Not only is the cost ‘eye-watering’, patients could be risking a ‘major and irreversible complication’, Professor Rob Howard, an expert in old age psychiatry at University College London, told MailOnline.
‘About 40 per cent of patients who are treated with this class of drugs develop brain brain swelling and bleeding,’ he said.
‘In most people, this isn’t too serious. But in about 1 per cent of cases, this complication can lead to severe life-changing side effects including strokes and death.’
Experts have long believed donanemab could herald a new era of dementia treatment, after studies showed it slowed the memory-robbing illness in its early stages
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. The disease can cause anxiety, confusion and short-term memory loss
The benefits, meanwhile, are ‘tiny’, according to Professor Howard.
‘The clinical trials are very clear. They show that the difference between the patients who receive the drug and the placebo at 18 months is tiny.
‘An experienced clinician assessing a patient wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the same patient who’d had the treatment for 18 months and who had had a placebo.’
Other experts have echoed Professor Howard’s stance, declaring the price tag ‘ridiculous’.
Professor Bart De Strooper, an expert in Alzheimer disease at University College London, said: ‘I’m happy to see the drug become available but the price is ridiculous.
‘Scientists still need to find out which subgroup of patients can actually benefit.’
Professor Tom Denning, the head of the University of Nottingham’s Centre for Dementia, told MailOnline that health watchdog NICE was right to deny NHS patients access to donanemab ‘as it is difficult to see how they would ever become cost-effective’.
‘The benefits as evidenced in the clinical trials are modest, to say the least. They certainly don’t stop patients’ dementia from progressing over time.’
The drug has been proven to slow progression of the disease by as much as 35 per cent in trials by helping to remove the build up of the harmful protein amyloid in the brains of people with early-stage Alzheimer’s
Around 900,000 Brits are currently thought to have the memory-robbing disorder. But University College London scientists estimate this will rise to 1.7million within two decades as people live longer. It marks a 40 per cent uptick on the previous forecast in 2017
The drug, which patients receive through a drip in their arm every month, works by stimulating the body’s immune system to remove the build up of the harmful protein amyloid in the brains of people with early-stage Alzheimer’s.
In October, it got the green light from UK medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
But NICE decided to block it for NHS — along with a second Alzheimer’s drug called lecanemab, as both produced benefits ‘too small’ to justify the cost.
At the time NICE said it had identified 27 other drugs which it ‘expects to be asked to evaluate over the next few years’.
Re:Cognition administered the first dose of donanemab on Friday, with the clinic’s CEO and medical director Dr Emer MacSweeney saying the moment marked ‘a significant milestone in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease’.
She added: ‘As the first clinic in Europe to deliver [donanemab], we are proud to continue leading the way in providing access to life-changing therapies.’
While the cost of the drug will vary on the patient and number of MRI scans required, the price is expected to start from £60,000 every year.
Recent analysis by the Alzheimer’s Society estimates the overall annual cost of the dementia to the UK is £42billion a year, with families bearing the brunt.
NICE also said it had identified 27 other drugs which it ‘expects to be asked to evaluate over the next few years’
An ageing population means these costs – which include lost earnings of unpaid carers – are set to soar to £90billion in the next 15 years.
Around 944,000 in the UK are thought to be living with dementia, while the figure is thought to be around 7million in the US.
Alzheimer’s affects around six in 10 people with dementia.
It is thought to be caused by a build-up of amyloid and tau in the brain, which clump together and from plaques and tangles that make it harder for the brain to work properly.
Eventually, the brain struggles to cope with this damage and dementia symptoms develop.
Memory problems, thinking and reasoning difficulties and language problems are common early symptoms of the condition, which then worsen over time.
Dementia are expected to sky-rocket in the coming years, making a cheap screening tool vital to get to grips with the challenge.
Alzheimer’s Research UK analysis found 74,261 people died from dementia in 2022 compared with 69,178 a year earlier, making it the country’s biggest killer.
