Patients and Roche hail NICE's 'landmark' MS drug U-turn

An eight-month patient-led campaign to get the first ever treatment for early, inflammatory primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) paid for by the National Health Service (NHS) in England has ended in success.

The campaign started in September 2018, when cost-effectiveness watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) declined to recommend NHS funding for Roche’s (ROG: SIX) Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), deeming it too expensive for the benefits it could provide.

But – driven by data showing a 25% drop in the risk of disability getting worse and a seven-year delay in patients needing a wheelchair compared to those taking placebo – patient charity the MS Society launched a campaign calling on NICE, NHS England and the drug manufacturer Roche, to find a deal to allow access to the drug on the NHS.