Access to the next wave of biologic therapies (Abatacept and Tocilizumab) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in England and Wales: Addressing treatment outside the current NICE guidance

Yee Chiu*, Andrew J. K. Ostor, Anthony Hammond, Katharina Sokoll, Marina Anderson, Maya Buch, Michael R. Ehrenstein, Patrick Gordon, Sophia Steer, Ian N. Bruce

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    9 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Patients in England and Wales with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receive treatment from the National Health Service (NHS) with therapies approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), under guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). This document overviews the current NICE guidelines for the treatment of RA and identifies scenarios when such guidance may not represent the optimum management strategy for individual patients. Specifically, we consider the use of tocilizumab or abatacept as the most appropriate treatments for some patients. In such scenarios, it may be possible for the clinician to secure access to the required therapy through an application procedure known as an 'individual funding request', the process of which is described in detail here. At present, it is unclear the extent to which the proposed reform of the NHS will affect the role of NICE in providing guidance and setting standards of care. Until the full impact of the proposed changes are realized, individual funding requests will remain a valuable way of securing the optimal treatment for all patients suffering from RA.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1005-1012
    Number of pages8
    JournalClinical rheumatology
    Volume31
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2012

    Keywords

    • Abatacept
    • Individual funding request
    • National Health Service
    • National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
    • Rheumatoid arthritis
    • Tocilizumab
    • RITUXIMAB
    • OUTCOMES
    • SAFETY
    • TRIAL
    • RA

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