(Thanks to ticktalker on SH)
UPDATE 1-UK watchdog against routine use of COX-2 drugs
THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2001 8:52 AM
- Reuters
(Updates with company appeals rejected, news conference)
By Richard Woodman
LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - Britain's National Institute for Clinical Excellence said on Thursday that best-selling
COX-2 arthritis drugs, including Celebrex and Vioxx from Pharmacia Corp(NYSE:PHA) and Merck and Co
Inc(NYSE:MRK), should not be used routinely.
The controversial watchdog, set up to evaluate the cost effectiveness of different treatments, said the drugs should
only be reimbursed on the state health service in England and Wales for "high-risk" patients.
These included people aged 65 or over and patients with gastrointestinal problems who might be at risk of suffering
complications on traditional anti-inflammatory drugs.
NICE said its appeals' committee had rejected all appeals by Pharmacia and Merck. Both companies had
complained that the institute's guidance was perverse in the light of the evidence submitted.
Celebrex and Vioxx, which work by blocking the COX-2 enzyme linked to inflammation, have been hailed as a major
improvement in arthritis treatment, in part because they do not cause the gastrointestinal problems often associated
with older drugs.
NICE Chief Executive Andrew Dillon told a news conference in London that although COX-2 inhibitors did offer some
benefit in terms of reducing adverse events, there was still uncertainty about absolute value of the drugs.
"Where the COX-2 drugs have been introduced elsewhere in Western-style countries, they have literally exploded into
the system. There has been very widespread use. That has generated very significant financial pressures," he said.
He said NICE estimated that switching high-risk patients to COX-2 drugs would cost the National Health Service an
extra 25 million pounds ($36 million) per year. Broader use of the drugs could have cost an extra 100 million per year.
NICE has angered the drugs industry and patient groups in the past by ruling some modern medicines are not cost
effective.
REUTERS |
