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The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has been bombarded by almost 8,000 objections to its call for the NHS to stop prescribing four Alzheimer’s drugs on cost grounds, writes Mithran Samuel.

The massive negative response to its consultation, which dwarfs those who responded in favour, puts considerable pressure on the institute to reverse its draft guidance, especially given Department of Health scepticism.

An Alzheimer’s Society spokesperson said: “It shows the strength of public feeling that drug treatments for Alzheimer’s that work should be made available regardless of cost.”

Nice’s appraisal committee met to consider the proposal last week and will make its final recommendation in the week beginning 18 July.

Its draft guidance on donepezil, galantamine, memantine and rivastigmine has come under severe criticism from a number of bodies, and the DoH echoed a number of their concerns in its own submission.

It questioned whether Nice had compared drug costs to those of non-drug treatments and the weight given to the value patients placed on the treatments.