NICE anti-CCP guidance good news for Axis-Shield

Scotland's Axis-Shield has drawn attention to new guidelines on the management of rheumatoid arthritis issued by the UK's National Institute  for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which advises on medical  treatment under the National Health Service in England and Wales, but  not Scotland, encouraging wider use of anti-cyclic citrullinated  peptides antibody testing.

One of the conclusions from the report states that anti-CCP have emerged  in recent years as being equally as sensitive, but more specific, than  rheumatoid factors in the diagnosis of RA. In an algorithm for  investigating new patients with signs of RA-like symptoms, the guideline  recommends that the measurement of anti-CCP antibodies should be  considered in those people suspected of RA who are negative for  rheumatoid factor and in whom there is need for informed decision making  relating to the initiation of combination therapy.

Chief executive Ian Gilham said: "these guidelines from [the] NICE  confirm the importance of testing for anti-CCP antibodies in the  management of this debilitating disease and the clear benefits for  patients by early detection of their presence. Axis-Shield's anti-CCP  assays have been demonstrating rapid growth in recent years and we  anticipate that the NICE guidelines...will encourage wider utilization  of this test in the UK. This confirmation of test utility also adds  weight to the drive to expand the use of anti-CCP testing for RA in  other international markets."