According to The Telegraph, Eli Lilly's Alzheimer's drug will be banned from the British health service NHS

(Reuters) – Britain's National Health Service (NHS) is likely to block the use of a drug developed by Eli Lilly to treat early-stage Alzheimer's disease, the Telegraph reported on Friday.

The drug Donanemab has been rejected by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which decides on the availability of the drugs in the British health service NHS, the newspaper reported, citing insiders.

NHS and NICE declined to comment, while Eli Lilly did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

In addition, NICE is unlikely to reverse its decision to reject a previous Alzheimer's drug, lecanemab, the report said.

Earlier this week, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) stated that lecanemab was not profitable for the taxpayer due to its high cost and the intensive monitoring required for side effects.

Lecanemab is the first Alzheimer's drug approved in the United States that has been shown to slow the progression of the disease.

Donanemab is said to be even more effective at slowing the progression of Alzheimer's disease and has been hailed by scientists as the “best treatment ever administered” for the disease, the Telegraph reported.

According to the report, the MHRA may not approve donanemab due to concerns about the risk of side effects. Both drugs are already approved in the US.

A decision on donanemab has been delayed; the regulator had originally planned to make its decision in July, the same time the product was approved in the United States, the report said.

(Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Sandra Maler)