Alzheimer's: NHS advisory body may amend guidelines so medicine is used for only those in 'moderate' stages
Most Alzheimer's sufferers could soon be denied drugs they take to treat the condition.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), an NHS advisory body, is consulting on whether donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine should only be given to people who have a moderate stage of the condition.
Current Nice guidance issued in 2001 recommends these Alzheimer's drugs for all patients, with treatment stopping when they cease to have an effect.
However, Nice has suggested amendments should be made to this recommendation after clinical trials concluded that the drugs are more clinically effective and more cost-effective when given to patients with moderate Alzheimer's.
Some 60% of all patients suffering from the disease are in the early or later stages of dementia, and would not be eligible for these drugs should the latest proposal come into effect.
Nice has also recommended that another drug, Memantine, should no longer be used because there was not enough evidence of its clinical benefit.
Andrew Dillon, Nice chief executive, said: "We are acutely aware of our responsibility to help people with Alzheimer's disease secure access to effective treatment.
"We needed to make the right decision, based on all relevant evidence.
"By going the extra mile and asking the drug companies to delve deeper into their clinical trial data, we have been able to identify the right way to use these medicines.
"People with Alzheimer's will now receive these drugs when they can help them most."
However, Alzheimer's charities and organisations have slammed the proposals.
Neil Hunt, chief executive of Alzheimer's Society, said: "The new draft guidance that Nice has produced still raises serious ethical and practical concerns about the availability of drug treatments for people with Alzheimer's disease.
"People with dementia and their carers value the benefits that the drug treatments bring in the early stages of the disease.
"For what other condition would you wait until people decline so much that they can no longer look after themselves before giving them treatment?"
Dr David Wilkinson, a leading old age psychiatrist and a member of the Action on Alzheimer's Drugs Alliance, believes the draft guidance has serious flaws.
He said: "If approved, professionals will be in the impossible situation of withholding beneficial treatments from people with dementia because they are not ill enough.
"Drug treatments that work must be available to those who need them, and clinicians should be able to use their professional judgement to decide when to prescribe them."
The consultation period ends on Monday 13 February and Nice is expected to publish its final guidelines to the NHS in July.
The new guidance will apply to newly diagnosed patients only.
