Takeda receives NICE recommendation for Entyvio

Takeda and Millennium Pharmaceuticals' drug Entyvio has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a treatment for severe Crohn's disease.

Final draft guidance from the UK regulator has backed the drug for NHS use as an option for people with moderate to severely active Crohn's disease who have not responded well to previous treatments or whose therapy has stopped working.

The draft guidance also dictates that patients receiving the vedolizumab therapy should be reassessed after 12 months, with treatment only continuing if it is still justified as being clinically and cost-effective.

Final guidance for the NHS will be published by NICE later this year.

Professor Carole Longson, NICE Health Technology Evaluation Centre director, said: "NICE is happy to be able to recommend vedolizumab as a treatment option for those with Crohn's disease. We hope the recommendation will benefit tens of thousands of people who live with this debilitating condition."

The drug was granted marketing authorisation from the European Commission in May 2014.