‘Important breakthrough’ as NICE approves drug tocilizumab

Arthritis Care has welcomed today’s announcement by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to make the new drug tocilizumab (RoActemra) available on the NHS as an ‘important breakthrough’.

Tocilizumab is likely to be available for people with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for whom other treatments – disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) or anti-TNFs (tumour necrosis factor inhibitors) – have not worked.

Until now, tocilizumab was only available in Scotland after it was approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium on 18 January 2010.

Neil Betteridge, Arthritis Care chief executive and vice president of the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR), said: ‘Arthritis Care welcomes this decision as an important breakthrough. Although there are a number of treatments available for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), they simply don’t work for everyone – and when this happens, it can leave people with RA in intense pain, unable to work, and often struggling to walk.

'For those most affected, access to the widest range of treatment options will give them the best chance of keeping this painful and potentially disabling disease under control.

‘But despite this breakthrough, clinicians will have little leeway in prescribing tocilizumab – it will still only be available as a ”last resort” drug to patients who have failed on at least one anti-TNF and have subsequently not responded to rituximab, except for those for whom it is contraindicated[1].

So while this ruling is positive, NICE has yet to extend choice to the point where clinicians are able to prescribe the best available treatments to their patients, and ensure that they have timely access to the most effective drugs.’

Anyone with questions about arthritis can call the Arthritis Care Helpline free on 0808 800 4050 or email Helplines@arthritiscare.org.uk. If someone thinks this treatment might be beneficial to them, they should speak to their rheumatologist.

1. Contraindication – a contraindication is a specific circumstance when the use of certain drugs or therapies could be harmful.