NICE green light for earlier use of Bristol-Myers' Orencia

The UK drugs watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) now recommends the National Health Service use of US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) Orencia (abatacept) in combination with methotrexate as an option for treating rheumatoid arthritis in adults whose disease has responded inadequately to two conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), including methotrexate.

This recommendation enables the use of abatacept earlier in the treatment pathway providing physicians with greater treatment options and benefitting the patients who suffer from this disabling chronic disease, the company notes.

The NICE currently recommends a group of medicines represented primarily by anti-TNFs as first-line biologic treatment of RA following the failure of conventional DMARDs. As a T-cell co-stimulation blocker, abatacept acts differently than the anti-TNFs and has demonstrated robust short term and long term efficacy and safety data. During the review process of abatacept IV, the NICE Appraisal Committee heard from clinical specialists and patient experts who emphasised the importance of having a choice of treatments for people whose disease has not responded adequately to initial treatment with conventional DMARDs.