NICE OK's Abbott Labs' Humira for PA

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the UK advisory body which approves medical treatments for the National Health Service in England and Wales, has recommended the use of US health care major Abbott Laboratories' Humira (adalimumab) as an option for the treatment of adults with active, progressive psoriatic arthritis.

The NICE advises that these patients should be offered the drug when they have arthritis with three or more tender joints and three or more swollen joints, and at least two other disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, given on their own or together, have not worked.

Treatment with the agent should be started and supervised by a specialist physician who is experienced in diagnosing and treating psoriatic arthritis, noted a NICE statement, adding that, if the patient's psoriatic arthritis has not shown a measured response at 12 weeks, their treatment with Humira should be stopped.