A SECOND "game-changing" Alzheimer's drug shown to slow the progression of the disease has been approved in the UK. Donanemab , developed by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, was today given the green light by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. The ruling means the drug is deemed safe and effective for people in the early stages of the disease and paves the way for patients to be prescribed the drug privately for the first time.
It's a major step and comes after regulators in the US gave the drug the nod, and two months after a similar drug, lecanemab was approved for use in the UK. But there are fears that like Lecanemab it might not be made available on the NHS, according to reports from The Telegraph . The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which decides what drugs are available on the NHS, is expected to rule that the drug is too expensive for NHS patients, the newspaper reported.
READ MORE ON DEMENTIA The decision is expected to disappoint charities and campaigners who have called for better access to newly emerging drugs. The advent of the two drugs has been hailed as the beginning of a "new era where it [Alzheimer's] could become treatable". Donanemab is an antibody-based treatment that works by removing amyloid - a protein that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's .
Amyloid plaques have become a hallmark of the debilitating disease, which is the most common form of dementia . Most read in Health The immunotherap.
