Health Secretary Yvette Cooper has raised hopes that a breakthrough dementia drug could be made available on the NH.
Lecanemab, which is used to treat early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, is set to be manufactured in Britain and distributed worldwide – but is not available on the NHS.
Now, veteran Cabinet minister Yvette Cooper has told The i Paper that changes to cost-effectiveness guidance from the health spending watchdog will improve access to many treatments, which could include the availability of dementia medications.
EU announces plan to restrict social media access for under-15s
The EU has announced plans to restrict social media access for under-15s across its member states, in a bid to tackle online safety.
How would it work?
There would be a gradual approach to children using social media which would include banning access for under 13s.
13 to 15-year-olds would be able to access platforms for an hour a day via “mini accounts” set up through their parent’s account.
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A closer look at the detail
The European Commission said social media companies would need to prove platforms were safe by design or face fines of up to 6 per cent of their global sales.
The restrictions would not just affect well-known apps such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat but also YouTube and other video sharing platforms as well as AI chatbots and online games.
What did the EU chief say?
Too many children are being exposed too early to an online world they are not ready to navigate – an environment where bullying can follow you home, where every mistake can be recorded forever.
Ursula von der Leyen
The crocodile-ridden river chosen as Olympic rowing venue
A river inhabited by around 500 saltwater crocodiles has been greenlit as the venue for Olympic and Paralympic rowing and canoeing events at the 2032 Brisbane Games.
Seal of approval
The location approved to host the events is on the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton, Queensland.
The independent technical assessment of the waters’ suitability did not take into account the crocodiles but examined how the course would perform under various circumstances and weather conditions.
How safe is the river?
- Olympic officials have previously been assured of the safety of the location, but British representatives are among those to raise concerns.
- The river is already a training and competition venue for flatwater sports, supporting school state championships and national team training camps, the report said.
- Contingency plans are in place and the route has been endorsed by World Rowing and Paddle Worldwide.
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Concerns downplayed
There are sharks in the ocean and we’re still surfing… it’s a can do, not a can’t do – please change the mindset here.
Speaking last year, Brisbane 2032 president Andrew Liveris dismissed concerns about crocodiles.
Nine countries can shelve EES checks for the rest of the year
At least nine European countries have been allowed to delay the full roll-out of controversial border biometric checks until the end of the year, The i Paper’s Joe Palmer and Joe Duggan can reveal.
Brussels has given extensions to several member states after a deadline for full implementation of the Entry/Exit System (EES) for non-EU nationals at Schengen area airports passed earlier this month.
Which countries are they?
At least nine European countries have been allowed to waive the full introduction of EES until the technology required for the necessary facial and fingerprint scans is working effectively.
Countries granted the exemption include:
What is EES?
EES, which launched last October, is replacing manual passport stamping, but has led to queues as long as seven hours at border checkpoints. Some passengers have been forced to miss their flights.
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A closer look at the EES crisis
When asked about the nine countries yet to fully introduce the checks, a spokesperson for the European Commission told The i Paper it was in “close and constructive contact with those few member states where some adjustments are still needed at certain border crossing points”.
Cooper has no power to order a drug to be made available. But the NHS can ask the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which assesses value for money for new treatments, to consider a particular medicine.
The UK became the first country in Europe to license lecanemab – which is sold under the brand name Leqembi – in 2024 after clinical trials found it showed a “significant” reduction in decline among eligible patients.
A few months later it licensed another drug used to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, called donanemab.
However, Nice – which evaluates the clinical and cost-effectiveness of new treatments – initially declined to recommend either drug for NHS use, saying the benefits to patients would not outweigh the cost to the health service.
It meant lecanemab and donanemab would be reserved for those who could afford to pay for the treatments privately.
New guidelines for drug costs
But earlier this year, the Government raised by around 25 per cent the limit for what Nice considers good value for money – meaning more expensive medicines and treatments can be approved to improve patient care.
It follows a pharmaceutical trade deal with the US in which Britain agreed to spend more money on drugs in return for medications and treatments entering the US tariff-free for the next three years.
The UK was the first country to secure the deal, which ministers said would improve NHS patients’ access to new medicines by encouraging pharmaceutical companies to launch breakthrough treatments in Britain.
This is the first time Nice, which makes decisions independently from the Government, has implemented changes to its cost-effectiveness threshold in its 25-year history, meaning a host of drugs that were previously denied for NHS use can be re-evaluated.
Asked specifically whether she would look for a workaround for dementia drugs, Cooper told The i Paper: “We’ve got areas where some of the changes that we have made to the Nice guidance are making it possible to get more drugs available on the NHS.
“So we are seeing that happening now, but we’ll look at the dementia [drugs].”
Any decisions would be made independently by Nice, who evaluate drugs at the request of the NHS or Department of Health.
NHS in talks to secure deal for patients
Cooper said the Government would appoint a dementia tsar to “bring together the approach” around preventing, treating and caring for people with the disease.
It is understood that the NHS and the company behind lecanemab, Eisai, are in talks to explore “all reasonable opportunities” to secure a “positive outcome” for NHS patients. Nice said it “paused” its separate evaluation of using lecanemab to treat Alzheimer’s after these “commercial discussions” began.
Eisai is a major Japanese pharmaceutical firm that has won a Government grant to expand its site in Hatfield, Herfordshire, meaning that drugs, including lecanemab, could be manufactured there and supplied across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Similar talks are under way with Eli Lilly, which manufactures donanenab.
Michelle Dyson, Alzheimer’s Society’s chief executive, welcomed Cooper’s commitment to dementia patients and described drugs that slow the progression of the disease as a “watershed moment”, saying more options must be made available on the NHS “urgently”.
It was announced on Tuesday that patients in England with a specific type of incurable breast cancer can access a drug called Enhertu, which can give patients an extra seven months to live on average. Nice had initially ruled that the drug was not good value for money but said it reversed its decision largely because of the trade deal.
Support for breastfeeding
Cooper set out her priorities for her new role as Health Secretary in a wide-ranging interview with The i Paper, saying she would like to improve maternity services and heatwave-proof hospitals.
Speaking after a keynote speech at the National Maternity Safety Conference in Birmingham, where she promised to “put the cradle back at the heart of the NHS”, Cooper said she wanted new mothers to be offered “support with breastfeeding” and mental health as part of an expansion of community care for babies and children in their early years.
She set out proposals for an improved “neighbourhood approach to supporting new mums” with more early health checks and support with baby vaccinations, but she noted the plans were still at a “very early stage in development”.
Asked how she would spend any boost to health funding in the Budget next month, she said: “Maternity is a personal priority for me. I do think that is really important. We’re also supporting capital improvements as well.”
Hospitals fit for heatwaves
She said the Department of Health was looking at how to make hospitals fit for heatwaves after the summer of 2026 was officially the UK’s hottest on record.
Cooper promised to “make sure we’ve got resilient plans for extreme heat in the summer”, in the same way the NHS currently plans for the winter cycle each year.
“That is a shift in what the NHS has had to do, partly because of dealing with extreme heat and climate change as well,” she added.
She also backed the Prime Minister’s mission to set up a national care service, arguing that failing to link health and social care causes “growing pressures on the NHS”.
Asked whether the NHS could collapse without urgent social care reforms, Cooper said patients are forced to attend hospitals even if it is not the “best place for them” as the “social care side is not working effectively, and we don’t have the proper links between them”.
She added: “Andy [Burnham] is right; we will see growing pressures on our NHS, and we’ve got growing pressures on our NHS now compared to 15 years ago because we haven’t made reforms since then.”