NICE has conducted a single technology appraisal (TA 141) of abatacept in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and has issued guidance on its use within the NHS in England and Wales. The recommendations made are as follows: • Abatacept is not recommended (within its marketing authorisation) for the treatment of people with rheumatoid arthritis. • Patients currently receiving abatacept for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis should have the option to continue therapy until they and their clinicians consider it appropriate to stop. The Committee concluded that rituximab should be considered a relevant comparator because it is licensed for use at the same stage of the treatment pathway of RA as abatacept. Further it noted that rituximab is now recommended in NICE guidance. Although no direct head-to-head comparison has been made between rituximab and abatacept, the Committee concluded that, based on the available evidence, rituximab has been shown to have similar outcomes to abatacept at a lower price. It therefore concluded that abatacept could not be considered a cost-effective use of NHS resources in comparison with rituximab.
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