NICE backs Roche RoActemra, but with PAS discount

22 February 2012

UK drugs watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has today recommended that the National Health Service in England and Wales can offer Swiss drug major Roche’s (ROG: SIX) RoActemra (tocilizumab) at an additional stage in treating rheumatoid arthritis.

The new guidance published today is a rapid review of the 2010 guidance, TA198, following a new patient access scheme which the manufacturer has agreed with the Department of Health, the NICE pointed out. The guidance sets out that in specific clinical circumstances, and only if the manufacturer provides tocilizumab with the discount agreed as part of the patient access scheme, tocilizumab is also now recommended alongside other options for treating rheumatoid arthritis at an earlier point in the treatment pathway. This is where the disease has responded inadequately to disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and tocilizumab is used as described for tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor treatments in NICE guidance TA130, the agency explained.

Clinical remission nearly six times that of most commonly-used DMARD alone

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