Abbott's Humira to be covered by U.K. national health plans

Abbott Laboratories' Humira and Merck & Co.'s Remicade should be covered by the U.K.'s National Health Service for adults with severe Crohn's disease that doesn't respond to other treatments, a regulatory review found.

The benefits of the two injected medicines are worth the price for patients with the chronic inflammatory condition, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said in an e-mailed statement today. Crohn's affects 60,000 people in the U.K., including 3,000 with severe disease, and causes stomach pain, diarrhea, weight loss and ulcers.

The drugs should be limited to patients who can't take or don't benefit from standard treatments, the cost-effectiveness agency, known as NICE, said. A standard 12-month dose of Remicade, which is given based on a patient's weight, costs about 12,583 pounds ($17,953). A year of standard treatment with Humira costs 9,295 pounds.

Humira and Remicade "are clinically and cost effective options for some people with the most severe forms of Crohn's disease, and for those that standard treatments have failed, or are not an option," said Carole Longson, health technology evaluation center director at NICE, said in the statement. "This guidance will be welcome news to those affected."

The National Health Service will have three months to start paying for the treatments, the agency said. Remicade will also be covered for children with severe, active disease.

Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, sells Remicade in the U.S., while Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck sells it in Europe and select areas outside the U.S. Abbott is based in Libertyville Township.