New NICE recommendation for key successor to AbbVie's Humira

The UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended Rinvoq (upadacitinib) for moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) when conventional or biologic treatment is not working or cannot be tolerated.

This newly-published recommendation for England and Wales closely follows the Scottish Medicines Consortium acceptance of the AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) drug last month.

The recommendation in the NICE’s Final Draft Guidance extends access on the National Health Service (NHS) for people with UC across the UK, where nearly 300,000 people are estimated to be affected by the condition.