Lilly Alzheimer’s drug not to be covered by U.K.’s NHS: report

U.K. regulators will reportedly recommend that the National Health Service not cover Eli Lilly’s (NYSE:LLY) donanemab for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease because it’s too expensive.

According to The Telegraph, U.K. regulators are preparing to rule that donanemab is safe. That decision, however, will be followed by a recommendation from the NHS’s rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE, that the treatment is too costly to cover.

The U.K. newspaper noted that the estimated annual cost of donanemab in the U.S. is $32,000, which is around 25% higher than Esai’s (OTCPK:ESAIY) Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab. Including scans and monitoring, treatment with donanemab costs an average of $78,000 per year in the U.S., it added.

In August, NICE issued a draft recommendation that the NHS not cover lecanemab because its benefits were too small to justify the cost.

The FDA approved donanemab in July. Lilly markets the product in the U.S. under the name Kisunla.

The agency granted accelerated approval to lecanemab in January 2023. The product is marketed by Esai (OTCPK:ESAIY) and Biogen (BIIB) in the U.S. under the name Leqembi.