These are drugs which can make a significant difference for patients with Ulcerative Colitis and restricting access will be a major step backwards in the care and treatment of people with Ulcerative Colitis who could benefit from these therapies.

This is now open for public consultation until 15 October and we would urge you to register your view directly with NICE.

Conventional therapies for UC leave many patients continuing to experience flares or chronic symptoms, as well as the adverse effects of drug treatments such as steroids. Newer, biological therapies (which act on processes in cells), such as infliximab, adalimumab and golimumab, offer hope to those with UC, for whom conventional therapies are failing to control symptoms - not only that surgery may be avoided, but that they can resume their lives.

The UK IBD Biological Therapies Audit 2013 found that "biological therapies are effective treatments for patients with IBD with 62% of adult patients entering clinical remission with corresponding improvements in patient-reported quality of life scores". (www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/biologics).

Currently, access to these treatments is very limited for UC, unless patients are able to secure exceptional funding. This is at odds with access for those with Crohn's Disease, despite the fact that there is often an overlap between the conditions and an individual's diagnosis can change from one to the other. This can leave patients facing a postcode lottery until their condition becomes so severe that they are hospitalised and may then require emergency surgery.

Crohn's & Colitis UK believes that NICE should give a positive recommendation for NHS funding to be available for infliximab, adalimumab and golimumab for treating moderately to severely active Ulcerative Colitis after the failure of conventional therapy.