NICE rules out NHS prescription of fingolimod for multiple sclerosis

The only oral drug for the treatment of a particular type of multiple sclerosis should not be prescribed on the NHS in England and Wales, draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has said.

Despite the excitement earlier this year over the launch of the drug, fingolimod, a sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor, NICE has announced in provisional draft guidance that not only is the drug not cost effective but there was a lack of appropriate data.

Clinical specialists advising the NICE committee said that people with rapidly evolving, severe, relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis who have two or more disabling relapses a year would most likely benefit from the drug. However, the data submitted by Novartis, the drug’s manufacturer, were …