Eli Lilly Alzheimer’s drug rejected as too expensive by UK’s NHS, FT reports

The UK’s healthcare spending watchdog has rejected Eli Lilly’s (LLY) Alzheimer’s drug as being too expensive despite being approved as safe and effective by the country’s medicines regulator, The Financial Times’ Sarah Neville reports. The decision by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to reject Lilly’s donanemab came two months after it ruled that lecanemab, developed by developed by Eisai (ESAIY) and Biogen (BIIB), was not cost effective. Nice medicines evaluation director Helen Knight said: “Our independent committee looked at all the available evidence, including the benefits for carers. This shows donanemab could slow down cognitive decline by 4-7 months, but this is just not enough benefit to justify the additional cost to the NHS.”