March 2018
Analysis of how future dementia treatments will impact our health system and the taskforce we’re launching to overcome the unique challenges these treatments present.
What the modelling shows:
Because NICE’s evaluation of whether treatments are cost-effective does not consider benefits like full social and informal care costs, the current system may be unable to fully evaluate the value of a treatment to society.
What it means:
Dementia costs the UK economy £26bn annually, with over 80% of this cost carried by social and informal care. An effective treatment might be able to help with this cost, but the current approach to evaluation may not capture that benefit. It is vital that we understand the full value of future treatments and ensure that informal and care costs are recognised as part of the assessment process.
What we are recommending:
- The measures that reflect the full value of Alzheimer’s treatments for individuals and society need to be identified, including where there are gaps in the current data.

Thinking Differently: preparing today to implement future dementia treatments
Executive Summary
A snapshot of the treatments we analysed, the challenges we outlined and recommended actions included in the full report.