Out of the blue I was contacted in mid-March by Alzheimer’s Society asking if I would be prepared to appear live on ITV lunchtime news. Despite having been previously involved in live television I nevertheless felt that rush of combined anticipation and nerves without even knowing what I was being asked to comment on. It transpired that the news story was about the decision by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to look again at the case for lecanemab and donanemab, having previously omitted to factor in the perspective of unpaid family carers, hence my contribution to the news feature.
In June/July 2025, NICE guided that neither of these disease-modifying antibody infusions for early Alzheimer's should be available on the National Health Service based on cost-effectiveness and clinical benefit. The key reasons given were:
Limited benefit: The slowing of decline was considered modest
High cost of the drug and required monitoring (e.g. regular brain scans)
Safety concerns, including brain swelling or bleeding (ARIA)
Service burden: Delivering the treatment would require major NHS resources (infusions, MRI scans, specialist teams).
The broadcast took place on 20 March. I was allowed to appear via a Zoom link to save me having to travel into central London whilst Kieran Winterburn, Head of National Influencing at Alzheimer’s Society, was present in the studio. In the three and a half minutes we were given (a long time on live TV news) I talked about the drugs giving hope, when previously there was none, and the positive impact they would have on family life by delaying the progress of Alzheimer’s. Kieran spoke about new diagnostics methods able to detect Alzheimer’s so with people knowing sooner about a diagnosis, the importance of these breakthrough drugs speaks for itself, not just for the patient but also for the carer.
Will NICE now change their take on lecanemab and donanemab? Only time will tell.
