Dementia and Alzheimer’s Treatments

Lord Kamall Excerpts

Thursday 1st May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

We are abolishing NHSE. It is the biggest quango, and we are finding immense duplication. At this stage, I cannot comment on the exact matter to do with the team, but I can say that dementia work continues to be a very high priority, as I hope the noble Lord heard from my commitment to the noble Lord, Lord Evans. Indeed, we are keen to support not just those at risk of dementia but those who care for them. This is an expanding area of work. We have much good practice to draw on and we are extremely active, as the noble Lord has heard, in developing research to move further forwards more quickly.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Evans for raising this issue. We know that, often when a new drug is developed, even though some patients may benefit, it may initially be too expensive for NICE to recommend, based partly on a cost-benefit analysis. We know that eventually the price falls to a level which the NHS can afford and which can then be seen as good value for taxpayers. Given that this happens with many new drugs, have the Government considered convening a group of philanthropists, foundations, charities and other civil society organisations that might be willing to fund treatment for some, if not all, patients when new but expensive breakthrough drugs such as those my noble friend Lord Evans referred to are available but are considered too expensive initially?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

We are very open to all sorts of creative ways of dealing with the matter, but it is important to say on the drugs that we are discussing that lecanemab and donanemab can only slow the progression of the disease by between four and six months. The challenge is not just whether it is available on the NHS but how helpful it is. We have a lot of progress to make, and that is why we are committed to ensuring that new treatments can quickly become available and that prevention is key.