Janssen to appeal against Velcade decision

pharmafile | August 26, 2010 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing |  NICE, Thalidomide, Velcade, multiple myeloma 

Celgene’s Thalidomide has been recommended by NICE for multiple myeloma ahead of Janssen-Cilag’s Velcade.

A final appraisal determination says that in most cases Velcade (bortezomib) should be used only if treatment for a patient cannot tolerate Thalidomide.

NICE says the two regimens were equivalent in clinical effectiveness, but recommended Thalidomide because it costs £900 less per cycle of treatment on average.

The FAD recommends Thalidomide in combination with an alkylating agent and a corticosteroid in patients for whom high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplantation is considered inappropriate.

Janssen-Cilag UK says it will appeal against the decision.

Medical director Peter Barnes said: “We believe we have demonstrated that bortezomib is a clinically and cost-effective treatment option for this group of newly diagnosed myeloma patients.  

“For this reason we intend to appeal the draft recommendation which would mean that cancer patients in England and Wales would be disadvantaged compared to those in much of Europe, where bortezomib has been widely available in this setting for a number of years,” Barnes added.

The firm agreed a ‘risk-sharing scheme’ with NICE in 2007 for its drug’s use in patients who fail on first line treatment but, as part of the scheme, it is required to reimburse the NHS for the cost of treatment for patients who do not respond.

Multiple myeloma is a rare bone marrow cancer that affects plasma cells and is more common in the elderly. Around 3,600 cases of multiple myeloma are diagnosed every year in the UK.

Final guidance is expected to be published in October.

Ben Adams