New NICE guidance on Schering Plough and Gilead’s hep. B drugs

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued new guidance for the NHS in England and Wales on how to use new drugs and treatments for chronic hepatitis B.

The regulatory body recommends that both Peginterferon alfa-2a, marketed as Pegintron by Schering Plough, and Gilead’s Hespera (Adefovir dipivoxil) are used for various treatments of hepatitis B.

Peginterferon alfa-2a is recommended as an option for the initial treatment of adults with chronic hepatitis B (HBeAg-positive or HBeAg-negative), within its licensed indications.

Adefovir dipivoxil is recommended as an option for the treatment of adults with chronic hepatitis B (HBeAg-positive or HBeAg-negative).

Professor Roger Williams, director of the Foundation for Liver Research and patron of the George Best Foundation says: “Today?s guidance is good news as it confirms the important role these treatments play in the management of chronic hepatitis B, a condition which is estimated by the Department of Health to affect 180,000 people in the UK.

“The guidance will be welcomed by patients who now have the right to receive the best drugs available to treat this condition.”

Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus is a global problem with an estimated 350 million carriers worldwide, 20 ? 25 per cent of whom will progress over time to serious liver disease including cirrhosis and liver cancer.

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