News: New MS patients face restictions

The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7160 p181-186
11 August 2001

New MS patients face restictions

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has indicated that it will not allow the use of interferon beta (Avonex, Betaferon and Rebif) or glatiramer acetate (Copaxone) for treatment of new cases of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

The institute published its provisional appraisal of the drugs following media speculation about forthcoming guidance on treatment of the disease, which the NICE is expected to issue later this year.

The provisional appraisal suggests that neither interferon beta nor glatiramer is recommended for use in the National Health Service. However, it adds that patients currently receiving these drugs can continue to do so until it becomes appropriate to stop.

Reports in the media also suggested that the institute had decided that price cuts made by manufacturers of the products had not been sufficient to make the drugs cost-effective. The NICE provisional appraisal recommends that the Department of Health, the National Assembly for Wales and the drugs’ manufacturers should consider how to make the drugs available on the NHS “in a manner which could be considered to be cost effective”.

Peter Cardy, chief executive of the MS Society, said: “We are dismayed but not entirely surprised. We shall continue to press for the verdict to be reversed.”

The institute says that the provisional appraisal is a consultation document that has been published for information only. It insists that the appraisal is not guidance and adds that November is the earliest that a final decision will be made. The provisional appraisal is available on the NICE website (www.nice.org.uk).