NICE rejects arthritis drug Orencia

pharmafile | November 2, 2007 | News story | Sales and Marketing |ย ย NICEย 

NICE has rejected Orenica, a new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, saying the drug is not a cost effective option for the health service.

Marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Orencia is licensed as a third line treatment for people who have failed to respond to or failed to tolerate methotrexate or one of the TNF-blocker drugs such as Remicade.

BMS says its evidence showed patients failing both these options displayed significant improvement from taking Orencia on its own, but NICE says the drug's high cost outweighs it benefits.

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Frank Pasqualone, European VP and general manager, UK hit out at the decision, saying it failed to take into consideration the wider economic benefits of using the drug.

"NICE's decision could prove to be false economy because data show that patients whose disease is not adequately controlled are expensive to care for," said Pasqualone.

BMS was disappointed as NICE had acknowledged that the company had made a 'convincing case' for Orencia, and that trials demonstrating its effectiveness were top quality.

BMS says it will appeal against the ruling, but if this fails it may have to wait until 2010, when a second NICE review of Orencia is scheduled.

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