UK's NICE provisionally recommends Merck & Co's Simponi for ankylosing spondylitis

Just two day after backing the drug for rheumatoid arthritis (The Pharma Letter June 23),  the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), in a draft guidance published today, has provisionally recommended that US drug giant Merck & Co’s Simponi (golimumab) as an option for treating ankylosing spondylitis in specific circumstances.

Peter Taylor, Head of Clinical Trials and Campus Dean at Imperial College, London, quoted by Merck, said: “These two positive NICE announcements acknowledge the clinical and economic rationale for the use of golimumab in RA and AS, which can be extremely painful and debilitating conditions that can impact on every area of life. Providing patients and their health care professionals with an additional treatment choice that can help improve patients' well-being and quality of life is to be welcomed.”

Golimumab is provisionally recommended for the treatment of severe, active ankylosing spondylitis in adults only if it is used as described for other tumour necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor treatments - adalimumab and etanercept - as covered by NICE technology appraisal 143, and the manufacturer provides the 100mg dose of golimumab at the same cost as the 50mg dose, as Merck has offered for the RA indication. NICE has not yet issued final guidance to the National Health Service in England and Wales.