A PIONEERING computer program is being used to choose which patients can be treated with a drug for rheumatoid arthritis.

Consultant rheumatologist Dr Raashid Luqmani, of Oxford's Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, has won an NHS award for the software which pinpoints rheumatoid arthritis patients suitable for costly anti-TNF medicine.

He said the system, called EvaluLogix had not been designed to save money within the NHS, but to ensure drugs were used appropriately.

RA is a painful illness of the joints, affecting about 387,000 people across the UK. While most benefit from standard treatment, which costs very little, about 10 per cent need alternative help.

But a new medication called Anti-TNF is heavily regulated by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), which has insisted patients must pass a rigorous assessment.

Dr Luqmani's software works out complicated calculations about whether an individual's illness is severe enough for them to be considered for the drug, which costs £12,000 per person every year.

He said: "Deciding to put someone on this treatment is an expensive decision because it's much more costly. We have to ensure someone has a certain amount of disease before we can consider anti-TNFs.

"There are also safety considerations. For instance, some former cancer sufferers can't have it because it seems to trigger their cancer again.

"You just key the simple numbers into the computer and get a score. Nice has said a patient should be given the drug if they score above a certain threshold. If they don't, then they're unlikely to benefit."

So far, about 200 patients at the NOC have had their details put into the computer, and 150 have been prescribed anti-TNFs.

EvaluLogix has proved so successful it has won an award from NHS Innovations, the health service body which helps staff to design and invent products to improve their work.

As a result, it is now being sold commercially and a licensing deal for the program has been signed with pharmaceutical giant Roche.

News of the software comes as Nice was ordered to reconsider a ruling that RA patients should not be allowed to try a second anti-TNF drug if their first prescription fails to alleviate their condition.