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EDITORIAL |
Infliximab, etanercept and adalimumab for the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis: cost-effectiveness evidence and NICE guidance
1Health Economics and Decision Science, ScHARR, University of Sheffield, UK and 2Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Correspondence to: A. Wailoo, Health Economics and Decision Science, ScHARR, Regent Court, 30 Regent Street, Sheffield S1 4DA, UK. E-mail: a.j.wailoo@sheffield.ac.uk
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Background
Recent editions of this journal have seen papers published that report on the cost-effectiveness of etanercept [1] and adalimumab [2] in AS. These join similar analyses for infliximab [3, 4]. Each of these studies was commissioned by the drug manufacturers (Wyeth, Abbott and Schering Plough, respectively) and are consistent in terms of their conclusions: each of the TNF-
inhibitors is likely to be cost-effective in the UK National Health Service (NHS) compared with conventional therapy. Readers might therefore expect the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which is currently considering the use of these treatments for AS in the NHS and has received cost-effectiveness evidence from all three manufacturers, to issue guidance that recommends the use of these drugs in the NHS. However, the issues that the NICE Technology Appraisals Committee have had to consider are not as straightforward as implied
General features of the analyses
What happens to BASDAI/BASFI over the long term for patients who remain on therapy?
What happens to BASDAI/BASFI when patients withdraw?
Overview