UK clinicians remain unable to prescribe biologic drugs in moderate rheumatoid arthritis leading to outrage from experts

UK clinicians are still unable to prescribe biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDS) to people with moderate rheumatoid arthritis, following the release of an appraisal document from the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE).
Biologic DMARDS are a newer generation of medicines offering improved ways to treat rheumatoid arthritis by targeting particular chemicals or cells involved in the body’s immune system.

The British Society for Rheumatology released a statement today highlighting that whilst its good news that there is continuing availability of biologic DMARDS for people with severe rheumatoid arthritis, it is extremely disappointed that NICE, despite the evidence, has missed the opportunity to enable clinicians to prescribe biologic drugs to people with moderate rheumatoid arthritis.

“This group of patients experience the same painful and debilitating symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis,” the statement reads. “Allowing those with moderate disease who have the worst prognosis to access treatment would bring the UK more in line with other European countries; it is therefore regrettable that the UK continues to be an outlier. Access to appropriate treatment at the right time would drastically reduce the long term impact of disease on these people enabling them to live fuller and more independent lives.”

Professor Simon Bowman, president of the British Society for Rheumatology, comments:

‘’Great strides have been made by clinicians over recent years through the availability of these effective drug treatments for many patients. However, the clinical community remains frustrated that in this country we still fall behind particularly other European countries even though there is good evidence to support prescribing biologic drugs for those with moderate disease.”

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