Our response to the Scottish Medicines Consortium’s second assessment of lecanemab

Our response:

It has been announced today that the Scottish Medicines Consortium’s assessment of Alzheimer’s disease treatment lecanemab has not been successful. Following a resubmission, it was their opinion that the evidence about the benefits the medicine offers in comparison to current treatments was not strong enough to justify the additional cost of the medicine. Furthermore, the data presented on the medicine’s effectiveness and overall value for money were not considered strong enough to support its routine use in NHS Scotland.

Alison McKean, Alzheimer Scotland’s Director of Policy and Research, said:

“The decision by the Scottish Medicines Consortium not to recommend lecanemab for use by NHS Scotland is incredibly disappointing and shows that the current assessment process is in need of urgent change if we have any hope of tackling dementia.

“We seem to be stuck in a vicious cycle where each time a new drug is assessed, the regulator states that the evidence provided by the company on how well the medicine works, along with how much it would cost to use it, was not strong enough.

“Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer, and the leading cause of death for women. More than 75,000 people die from this disease every year – it’s time to take a different approach.

“The current assessment process is an ‘all or nothing’ one and it’s very unlikely that any new dementia drug will meet its strict cost-benefit criteria.

“We need the whole of the UK to come together to establish an innovative dementia drugs fund that can act as a middle ground. One that can move these current and other emerging treatments from clinical trial into small scale clinical practice pilot studies.

“Scotland is already leading the way in areas such as brain health and dementia prevention and so is well placed to get potentially life-changing new drugs like this into clinical practice.

“This will enable us to quickly see exactly what the benefits and true costs are. This is not unreasonable, and all stakeholders should work together to make this happen.”

If you have been affected by today’s decision and require support, please contact our 24 hour Freephone Dementia Helpline on 0808 808 3000 or by emailing helpline@alzscot.org