NHS England funds Uptravi, for rare and incurable disease

Actelion Pharmaceuticals UK & Ireland, a subsidiary of US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) today announced that National Health Service (NHS) patients in England, who have a rare and devastating disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) can now be treated with Uptravi(selexipag). In July this year, NHS England declined to provide funding for the drug.

The disease typically affects patients in the prime of their life, with disproportionately more women than men affected. If left untreated, the prognosis of PAH is poor; average life expectancy for some types of PAH can be two to three years. NHS England will be funding treatment of selexipag for use in adults with one of the more severe forms of the disease (World Health Organization [WHO] functional class [FC] III) who remain insufficiently controlled despite receiving oral treatment with two other classes of PAH medicines. Today’s decision now brings access for patients in England in line with that for patients across the rest of the UK.

“Today’s announcement that selexipag will be funded on the NHS is a welcome step forward for patients, their families and PH clinicians across England,” said Dr Gerry Coghlan, Consultant cardiologist at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, adding: “PAH is an incurable condition that has a devastating effect on patients and their loved ones. It is therefore of the upmost importance that patients are able to access new treatments that can help to slow the progression of this disease. We have worked for nearly three years to be able to prescribe this treatment for our patients and are relieved to finally have access.”