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Ebixa

Answer

The Department does not hold data on the number of people prescribed particular drugs but does hold data on the number of national health service prescriptions dispensed. Therefore, there is no data on the number of people treated with Ebixa. However, prescription cost analysis (PCA) data shows the number of prescriptions dispensed in England for Ebixa were:

	Prescription items dispensed
2002	319
2003	7,624
2004	17,726

The British National Formulary (section 4.11) lists three drugs, Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl as potentially suitable for the management of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, Ebixa is listed for the management of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease. The Department does not know what proportion of prescribing for these drugs were for mild, moderate or severe Alzheimer's disease. However, according to the PCA database, the net ingredient cost of drugs for dementia dispensed in the community in England 2004–05 was £44.7 million, 534.5 thousand items. In addition, Intercontinental Marketing Services estimate that the cost of these drugs dispensed in hospitals in England was £11.9 million in 2004–05.As already mentioned, the Department does not hold data on the number of people prescribed particular drugs but does hold data on the number of NHS prescriptions dispensed. Therefore, there is no data on the number of people prescribed anti-cholinesterase drugs. However, PCA data shows the accumulative costs up to the end of September 2005 for England were:

Drug	First prescribed	Value(£ million)	Prescriptions items dispensed
Aricept	1997	115.3	1,300,000
Reminyl	2000	18.7	242,000
Ebixa	1998	3.5	46,600
Exelon	1998	15.0	217,500

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

50206; 443 c436-7W;443 c436-7W

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Costs Alzheimer's disease Drugs Medical treatments Prescription drugs Memantine

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk