Controversial plans to withdraw drugs for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia from the NHS are to be blocked by government ministers amid growing political and public anger.
Ministers acknowledged yesterday that there was widespread 'bafflement' at guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) which said the drugs were not cost-effective and should not be freely available to patients on the NHS.
Four different medications, given to more than 54,000 patients, cost £2.50 a day per person and are the only drugs licensed for the treatment of Alzheimer's. By delaying the onset of the worst symptoms of dementia, such as personality change and memory loss, they help thousands of patients to lead independent lives.
In an interview with The Observer, the health minister Dr Stephen Ladyman said he will ensure the proposals are overturned.
'They [Nice] need to see the bigger picture, like the impact it will make on the families and the carers. They have to look at the wider impact of this decision,' he said.
Revealing that his department will submit a report this week extolling the benefits of the drugs, he added: 'It may well be that once they have looked at the extra evidence, they will come to a different decision.'
Ladyman said that there was ample evidence to show that the drugs, Aricept, Exelon, Reminyl and Ebixa, do work. He said: 'I can understand why the public is so worried. If you have someone in your family who has a form of dementia and you have drugs which do work, then you are going to find this decision a bit baffling.' He added: 'I also want [Nice] to look at some of the methodology they have used, which a number of experts have called into question.'
His strongly worded criticism effectively makes it impossible for Nice to press ahead with plans to withdraw the drugs for all new dementia patients from July this year.
The institute produced its interim guidance two weeks ago, and will publish amended plans after a consultation period which ends in one week.
Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: 'This is thrilling news and our members will be hugely relieved.
'The minister has clearly listened to the experts, the campaigners and members of the public who were deeply anxious about these plans. We felt as if the NHS was going to give up on people with dementia.'
But the move comes amid growing political anger about the plan, with MPs inundated by letters and calls from constituents worried about the change. Both Ladyman and another health minister, Melanie Johnson, have thin majorities and some campaigners have suggested targeting pensioners in their constituencies so that the two would lose votes and possibly their seats.
The decision to act will take the sting out of a mass lobby of parliament planned for Wednesday, just before the Chancellor delivers his Budget. Alzheimer's patients and their families are due to turn up to protest over the Nice guidance and also on the issue of means testing patients for their personal care in homes. More than 750,000 people in the UK have dementia, and at least 1 million people provide care for them in some form.
The new drugs, Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl, were recommended for NHS prescription for mild to moderate Alzheimer's in 2001, and the fourth drug, Ebixa, is licensed for patients with the more serious form of the disease.
It is not the first time that Nice has had to perform a U-turn. In 2002, there was anger from doctors at plans to prevent the NHS using a leukaemia drug, and before that, over the provision of the flu jab Relenza.
