NICE publishes final guidance for new drugs

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published its final guidance on a variety of new drugs, according to Pharmafile. Different therapies have been approved for juvenile idiopathic arthritis, dry eye disease and Morquio A syndrome. However, a treatment for psoriatic arthritis has been rejected in draft guidance.

Four different drugs were approved to treat juvenile idiopathic arthritis. NICE has confirmed that where multiple drugs are suitable, treatment will commence with the least expensive.

To treat dry eye disease, the UK regulator has approved Santen Pharmaceutical’s Ikervis (ciclosporin), which is specifically aimed at severe keratitis in adults.

BioMarin Pharma’s Vimizim (elosulfase alfa) has been recommended by NICE for the treatment of Morquio A syndrome, an extremely rare life-limiting genetic disorder. BioMarin created a managed access scheme to obtain the approval, following NICE’s previous draft guidance. This marks the first treatment option for the disease, as due to its rarity there was no existing pathway of care.