UK High Court Ordered NICE To Amend A Guidance for Alzheimer's Disease

Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, President and CEO: Haruo Naito) announced today that the company's UK subsidiary Eisai Limited (Headquarters: London, Managing Director: Paul Hooper) received a favorable ruling on August 10, 2007 (the UK time) from the UK High Court which found the Guidance for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (“Guidance”) issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to be discriminatory. Eisai Limited applied for a Judicial Review of the process by which NICE reached its decision to ban anti-dementia medicines, including Eisai's Aricept® (generic name: donepezil hydrochloride), for NHS patients with newly diagnosed mild Alzheimer's disease in its Guidance. In today's ruling, the Court ordered NICE to amend the Guidance and also clearly ordered the followings:

  1. The Court will declare that the Guidance in its current form is discriminatory and therefore unlawful.
  2. For NICE to amend the discriminatory requirements in the Guidance within 28 days
  3. For NICE to consult with Eisai and interested parties such as Alzheimer's Society for the amendment of guidance
  4. For NICE to pay a part of Eisai's litigation cost

Eisai is committed to contribute to increase the benefit for mild Alzheimer's patients and their families through stable supply of its high-quality pharmaceutical products.

[Please see the press release issued on August 10th]

Contacts:

Corporate Communications Department
Eisai Co., Ltd.

81-3-3817-5120