NICE update: focus on multiple sclerosis

NICE published five new technology appraisals during June 2019, including a drug to treat a rarer form of multiple sclerosis in adults.

TA545 Ocrelizumab for treating primary progressive multiple sclerosis recommends the new technology as an option for treating early primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) where imaging reveals inflammatory activity in adults.

It is recommended only if the company provides it according to the commercial arrangement. This is the first disease-modifying treatment for PPMS.

An estimated 2,700 people with PPMS are eligible for treatment with ocrelizumab and it is believed that around 2,300 people will have ocrelizumab by 2023/24 once uptake has reached 90%.

NICE also published two clinical guidelines in June, including NG133, an update of the Hypertension in pregnancy: diagnosis and management guideline, and NG134, Depression in children and young people: identification and management. Costs associated with implementing both guidelines are unlikely to be significant.

NICE also published a medical technology, MTG45 Endocuff Vision for assisting visualisation during colonoscopy. During bowel cancer screening, a colonoscope is used to check the inside of a person’s bowel. Endocuff Vision is a disposable sleeve that fits over the end of the colonoscope. Evidence shows that this makes it easier to detect bowel cancer and adenomas (abnormal growths that can develop into cancer).

Endocuff Vision can be used for people having a colonoscopy as part of bowel cancer screening, if they have had a positive stool test. Cost modelling shows that for people having a colonoscopy as part of bowel cancer screening, using Endocuff Vision is cost saving.