Scots to get arthritis drug English say is too expensive

Tocilizumab has been given the green light by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), despite having provisionally been judged too expensive by its English equivalent, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), which assesses the cost effectiveness of treatments in England and Wales.

The SMC recommended free treatment with the drug for Scottish patients.

Tocilizumab, marketed under the name RoActemra, targets an inflammatory signalling molecule called interleukin-6 to reduce painful symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.

Used in combination with the standard anti-inflammatory drug methotrexate (MTX), it has been found to improve remission rates six-fold.

Nice has indicated in its draft guidance that the drug, which costs 9,000 per patient per year, is too expensive to justify use on the NHS. However, the new Scottish guidance recommends tocilizumab in combination with MTX for moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when other treatment options have run out.

Sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis who do not respond to other therapies already have access to the drug in most of continental Europe.

An estimated 646,000 people in the UK have rheumatoid arthritis, an auto-immune disease that attacks the joints.

A third of affected adults will have stopped working within two years of the disease taking hold and around half will be too disabled to work within ten years.

Leading rheumatologist Professor John Isaacs, from the Institute of Cellular Medicine at the University of Newcastle, said: "This is fantastic news for people in Scotland who suffer from this disabling, life-long disease. However, it also highlights the disparities in accessing treatment between Scotland and the rest of the UK."

Ailsa Bosworth, chief executive of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, said: "The SMC's decision provides people with rheumatoid arthritis in Scotland who face a life of pain and potential disability another chance of combating their disease.

"We strongly hope that Nice will revise its draft guidance to ensure people with rheumatoid arthritis across the country are able to benefit from RoActemra."

In December the organisation issued an unusual statement saying its final decision could be swayed by sufficiently persuasive new evidence. It challenged the drug's makers Roche to prove that its product was cost effective.

The SMC also gave the green-light for the use of two other drugs for the treatment of leukaemia and blood cancers yesterday.

Plerixafor, marketed under the name Mozobil, and Rituximab, marketed as MabThera, for use in treating lymphocytic leukaemia.