New Alzheimer’s drug approved in UK, but government won’t pay for it

The new Alzheimer’s drug Kisunla has been approved in the UK, but the government won’t be paying for it after an independent watchdog agency said the treatment isn’t worth the cost to taxpayers.

It is the second Alzheimer’s drug to receive such a mixed reception within months.

In August, the UK regulator authorised Leqembi, and the same watchdog agency issued draft guidance recommending the National Health Service (NHS) not to buy it.

In a statement on Wednesday, the regulatory agency said Kisunla “showed some evidence of efficacy in slowing (Alzheimer’s) progression” and approved its use to treat people in the early stages of the brain-robbing disease.

Kisunla, also known as donanemab, works by removing a sticky protein from the brain believed to cause Alzheimer’s disease.

Meanwhile, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), said more evidence was needed to prove Kisunla’s worth.

The drug’s maker, Eli Lilly, says a year’s worth of treatment is $32,000 (about €28,700).

NICE said that the cost of administering Kisunla, which requires regular intravenous infusions and rigorous monitoring for potentially severe side effects including brain swelling or bleeding, “means it cannot currently be considered good value for the taxpayer”.

Experts at NICE said they “recognized the importance of new treatment options” for Alzheimer’s and asked Eli Lilly and the NHS “to provide additional information to address areas of uncertainty in the evidence”.

More new drugs are on the way

Under Britain’s health care system, most people receive free health care paid for by the government, but they could get Kisunla if they were to pay for it privately.

“People living with dementia and their loved ones will undoubtedly be disappointed by the decision not to fund this new treatment,” said Tara Spires-Jones, director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.

“The good news that new treatments can slow disease even a small amount is helpful,” she said in a statement, adding that new research would ultimately bring safer and more effective treatments.

Fiona Carragher, chief policy and research officer at the Alzheimer’s Society, said the decision by NICE was “disheartening,” but noted there were about 20 Alzheimer’s drugs being tested in advanced studies, predicting that more drugs would be submitted for approval within years.

“In other diseases like cancer, treatments have become more effective, safer and cheaper over time,” she said. “ We hope to see similar progress in dementia”.