For a powerful pain relief people in Scotland would receive a drug even though for NHS patients in other parts of the UK the drug might not be available.

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) has approved using the drug even after NICE ruled provisionally that tocilizumab was too expensive.

The drug is marketed as RoActemra, and it decreases painful symptoms of arthritis. It aims interleukin-6, an inflammatory signaling molecule, further improving six times the remission rates when used with standard anti-inflammatory methotrexate (MTX).

Presently tocilizumab costs £9,000 per patient per year. It was stated to be an expensive treatment in NICE draft guidance. The body had in December challenged Roche, the manufacturer, to prove that the drug was not expensive and was cost-effective.

Professor Iain McInnes, a rheumatologist at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, said, “This is excellent news for patients in Scotland who suffer from this disabling, lifelong disease. RoActemra works in a completely different way to the existing drugs and will likely help many of those who are not responding to other treatments.”