"Devastating" AS ruling by the NICE condemned

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the UK advisory body which recommends drugs in England and Wales under the National Health Service, has published the results of an appeal against an earlier decision (Marketletter June 18) concerning three rheumatoid arthritis drugs. The decision concerns Abbott Laboratories' Humira (adalimumab), Amgen's Enbrel (etanercept) and Johnson & Johnson unit Centocor's Remicade (infliximab). The latter drug is marketed in the UK by Schering-Plough. All four firms are USA-headquartered.

Remicade is rejected by the NICE for ankylosing spondylitis, while patients prescribed either Humira or Enbrel will not be allowed to switch treatments. Ironically, the news came in the same week as Centocor announced that the product had become the first therapy of its kind to be prescribed to one million patients worldwide.

The NICE's ruling was greeted by patient groups with dismay. Jane Skerrett, a director of the National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society, described the decision as "devastating news for people living with severe AS. This is condemning people to a lifetime of pain and disability."