LONDON (Reuters) Mar 22 - Britain's National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) on Friday recommended that two costly new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis should be given on the state health service to patients who have not responded to conventional drugs.
Industry sources had previously told Reuters that NICE would back the two products - Remicade (infliximab), made by Johnson & Johnson, and Immunex Corp.'s Enbrel (etanercept). Both drugs work by blocking a chemical in the body called tumour necrosis factor (TNF), which is thought to play an important role in driving the inflammation and tissue damage of rheumatoid arthritis.

"It's a really great day for people with the most severe forms of rheumatoid arthritis," said Neil Betteridge, head of public policy at the charity Arthritis Care.

Industry analysts expect both of the drugs, which must be injected, to achieve worldwide sales of more than $1 billion in 2002.

However, many patients in Britain have had difficulty getting the medicines because they cost between £8,000 and £12,000 ($11,000-17,000) a year per patient, according to Arthritis Care. NICE estimates the cost to the National Health Service of implementing the new recommendation will be £55-75 million.

More than 420,000 people in Britain suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, some 15,000 of whom might be suitable for treatment with the new drugs after failing on standard therapies.

Wyeth, formerly American Home Products, is Immunex's marketing partner for Enbrel, while Remicade is sold by Schering-Plough Corp. in Europe.

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