The National Institute for Clinical Effectiveness said the drug, marketed under the name Orencia, is effective but its price -- more than $19,000 per person per year -- is too expensive, The Independent said Friday.

Britain's National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society said 3,500 patients would qualify for the treatment.

"Whatever the price, we are talking about so few people who will now have nowhere else to go except back on to treatments which have already failed," said NRAS director Lynn Love.