Healthy living
Medicines and supplements
NICE go ahead for arthritis drug
A new drug may help people with rheumatoid arthritis when all else has failed
There’s fresh hope for patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis that doesn’t respond to anti-TNF drugs which, until now, were the final treatment option. NICE, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, has today issued guidelines approving the use of rituximab (Mabthera) for the treatment of those patients who have not benefited from other drugs.
Arthritis Care's chief executive Neil Betteridge, said “It's a triumph. The search for effective treatment can be a long, agonising journey, littered with dashed hopes. Now there's no excuse to deny this drug on anything but clinical grounds”.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, disabling condition, which occurs when the immune system attacks the joints, causing swelling and damage of cartilage and bone. It affects around 400,000 people in England and Wales, of whom approximately 15% have a severe form of the disease.
NICE has said that rituximab, which is made by Roche, will be available to NHS patients who fail to improve after first being given anti-TNF drugs, and will be prescribed in addition to methotrexate.
In trials a third of RA patients halved their symptoms, although some also reported higher rates of serious infections.
“NICE has shown that it understands the benefit of expanding the range of choices for individuals who have exhausted other options, and would otherwise face the bleak prospect of palliative care, and a return to drugs that have already failed them”, 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”.
Speaking to Saga this morning, Jane Tadman of the Arthritis Research Campaign, which funds research into the disease, explained that another key benefit, in terms of quality of life, is that the drug is normally administered just twice a year, in doses one week apart and added that “rituximab will provide a lifeline for those who can access the drug”.
Useful articles
Useful websites
Information on this site is for interest only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should consult your own doctor about any specific health concerns.
