(Reuters) -Alzheimer’s patients in Britain’s state-run health service are unlikely to get access to Eisai and Biogen’s new Leqembi drug, after it was approved by the country’s regulator but deemed too expensive for wide use on Thursday.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the drug, also known as Lecanemab, is the first treatment for Alzheimer’s licensed for use in the country “that shows some evidence of efficacy in slowing progression of the disease.”
But in its draft guidance published simultaneously, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said the medicine’s high cost and need for intensive monitoring for side effects “means it cannot be considered good value for the taxpayer”.
(Reporting by Maggie Fick in London and Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Jane Merriman)
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