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    Has all of the relevant evidence been taken into account?

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    Are the summaries of clinical and cost effectiveness reasonable interpretations of the evidence?

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Draft guidance consultation

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1 Recommendations

1.1

Bimekizumab is not recommended, within its marketing authorisation, for treating active moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa (acne inversa) that has not responded well enough to conventional systemic treatment in adults.

1.2

This recommendation is not intended to affect treatment with bimekizumab that was started in the NHS before this guidance was published. People having treatment outside this recommendation may continue without change to the funding arrangements in place for them before this guidance was published, until they and their NHS healthcare professional consider it appropriate to stop.

Why the committee made these recommendations

Usual treatment for active moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa when conventional systemic treatment (such as oral antibiotics) has not worked well enough is adalimumab. If this is not suitable, does not work well enough or stops working, secukinumab is an option. For this evaluation, the company asked for bimekizumab to be considered in the same population as for secukinumab.

Clinical trial evidence shows that bimekizumab is more effective than placebo for treating the symptoms of moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa. But bimekizumab has not been directly compared in a clinical trial with secukinumab. The results from an indirect comparison are uncertain. So, it is unclear how well bimekizumab works compared with secukinumab.

Because of the lack of data and the way the model has been structured, the cost-effectiveness estimates are also uncertain. It is not possible to determine the cost effectiveness of bimekizumab without further analyses from the company. So, bimekizumab is not recommended.