Thousands Will Get a New Life ; Arthritis Sufferer Hails Drug Decision
By HELEN RAE
AN ARTHRITIS suffer has welcomed the Government’s move to offer patients with the crippling condition the right to free treatment with a “smart” drug.
The decision to approve NHS cash for the drug MabThera has been hailed as a triumph and will improve the lives of thousands of arthritis sufferers throughout the region.
Anne Wardle, 55, from Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis in 1998 at the age of 45, and began taking MabThera in March as part of a trial. The grandmother-of-five said: “For the first time in 10 years I can cross my fingers, and I’m doing that hoping other patients get access to this amazing treatment.
“MabThera has made my life so much better.
“When I was diagnosed with the condition it was terrible and very debilitating.
“I had pain in every single joint in my body.
“Over the years I went through a series of treatment but nothing worked until I began MabThera.
“As soon as I started taking the medication I was surprised at how much better I felt.
“I can now do things I was unable to do before such as walk up the stairs. I used to just have to sit in a chair and would get stuck sometimes.
“I’m delighted patients are now being offered MabThera and I hope it gives people the quality of life I’ve now been given.”
The decision comes less than three weeks after a health service watchdog issued draft guidance rejecting free prescriptions of another drug, Orencia, for people with the condition.
Today the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) ruled that MabThera was a cost-effective treatment for patients severely affected by the disease.
The recommendation means doctors in England and Wales can now prescribe the drug to NHS patients who have not responded to other therapies.
It is thought more than 400,000 people in the UK suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, a painful and sometimes crippling auto-immune disease.
And the total cost of the condition in England, including health care and indirect costs such as lost working days, has been estimated at up to pounds 1.2 billion a year.
Neil Betteridge, chief executive of the patient charity Arthritis Care, said: “It’s a triumph. The search for effective treatment can be a long, agonising journey, littered with dashed hopes. Now there is no excuse for denying this drug on any but clinical grounds.”
MabThera’s relative low cost is the reason why it was approved. At pounds 4,657 to treat one patient for a year, the drug is still almost half as expensive as other therapies.
The treatment will reduced RA symptoms by more than 50% for more than a third of patients.
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