The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is recommending the use of the daily oral pill, JYSELECA® (filgotinib) on the NHS for the treatment of moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It’s the first time in the UK that an advanced therapy has been recommended in people with moderate RA, offering thousands more the potential to achieve remission earlier – potentially slowing the irreversible damage and life-limiting symptoms RA can cause.

More than 400,000 people in the UK live with RA which is a degenerative auto-immune disease that can cause life-threatening complications. The sooner treatment begins, the better the chance of slowing the disease progression. With thousands of people potentially eligible, the recommendation could help improve many lives as well as lessen the significant societal burden RA has in England and Wales.

 Clare Jacklin is the Chief Executive of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS).She told us…..

“Rheumatoid arthritis is a devastating condition that affects hundreds of thousands of people across the UK – young and old. Being able to get the debilitating symptoms under control and ideally into remission, can be life changing and it is vital that people have the best chance of achieving this before it’s too late and permanent damage is done.”

“The decision is a remarkable step forward towards this goal and will allow more people to benefit from advanced therapy earlier in their disease pathway than ever before. For many, this could mean remaining in or getting back to work, fully enjoying family life or just getting on with simple things that many of us so often take for granted.  Having an opportunity for earlier intervention will lead I hope to many living a life unburdened by RA.”

We’ve been speaking to Clare about this recommendation and what it means to so many patients.

Dr James Galloway is Consultant Rheumatologist at King’s College Hospital, he said……

“This is a landmark decision from NICE and represents a pivotal moment for the treatment of RA. The goals of treatment in this condition are to control pain, prevent disability and improve quality of life. This requires us to act quickly to control the disease, preventing irreversible joint damage as soon as possible, for as long as possible.”

“While no single medicine works for everyone, the addition of filgotinib is an important step forward that we believe will help more patients achieve remission, even when their disease is at a less advanced stage. This is welcome news that should allow people across the UK to have more time free from the pain and distress RA is capable of causing.” 

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS), is the only patient-led organisation in the UK specialising in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Due to its targeted focus on RA and JIA, NRAS provides truly expert and wide-ranging services to support, educate and campaign for people living with these complex autoimmune conditions, their families and the health professionals who treat them.

Their vision is to support all with RA or JIA to live life to the full with an underpinning mission to:

• support everyone living with the impact of RA or JIA at the start and every step of their journey
• to inform – be their first choice for reliable information, and
• empower all to have a voice and take control of their RA or JIA

If you’d like more information on their work and to see what support they offer, just go here NRAS.