Janssen receives NICE recommendation for Stelara in psoriatic arthritis

Janssen has announced that the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended its drug Stelara for NHS use as a psoriatic arthritis therapy.

The drug has been endorsed for use alone or in combination with methotrexate for treating active psoriatic arthritis in adults when the response to previous non-biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy has been inadequate.

Last year, the regulatory body decided against recommending the drug for this indication, but it has now reversed this position after Janssen agreed to offer a patient access scheme.

As such, Stelara is now considered a cost-effective option for NHS use and becomes the latest anti-TNF approved for the treatment of this disease, alongside golimumab, adalimumab, etanercept and infliximab.

Professor Carole Longson, director of the Health Technology Evaluation Centre at NICE, said: "Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic condition that can have a significant physical and psychological impact on an individual's day-to-day life."

This comes after the drug was recommended by Europe's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for approval as a psoriasis therapy last month.