Roche's RoActemra is better than Abbot's Humira, says Scotland, but Zelboraf fails to impress
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Head to head data comparing Roche's RoActemra (tocilizumab) and Abbott's Humira (adalimumab) has convinced Scotland's health technology appraisal body, the Scottish Medicines Consortium, to approve RoActemra for use on the Scottish NHS as a monotherapy for rheumatoid arthritis patients. Nevertheless, Roche is complaining about the SMC's methods for appraising end-of-life cancer drugs, after it said no to Zelboraf (vemurafenib) for metastatic melanoma patients, which Roche claims is now the standard of care in England.