NICE recommends MabThera for rheumatoid arthritis

The drug, which is marketed by Roche in the EU, can now be prescribed to patients in England and Wales who have had an inadequate response to or intolerance of other disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, including treatment with at least one tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibitor therapy.

The NICE also said that the drug should only be continued in patients who had demonstrated an adequate response following therapy. The committee, which makes decisions on the costs and benefits of approved drugs for use on the NHS, recently rejected a rival arthritis drug Orencia on the basis that it was too expensive.

The cost to the NHS of a single course of MabThera (rituximab) is GBP3,492, according to the NICE, with patients receiving treatment at no less than six-month intervals. In comparison, the agency said that for an average patient on Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Orencia, the annual drug cost will be GBP10,584 in the first year and GBP9,828 in subsequent years.

Patient groups have welcomed the decision. Arthritis Care’s chief executive, Neil Betteridge, said: “Anti-TNF drugs don’t work for everyone. Left untreated, the disease can be severely disabling, so pinpointing the right drug is a race against time to match a given individual to what’s most suitable, so the more options available, the better.”

A second drug, Abbott Laboratories’s Humira, (adalimumab), was approved as a treatment option for psoriatic arthritis, which is associated with the skin disease psoriasis.