Avastin now available in UK for ovarian cancer
pharmafile | January 17, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Cancer, Cancer Drugs Fund, NICE, Roche, avastin
Roche’s Avastin is now available as a treatment for women with ovarian cancer in the UK.
Avastin (bevacizumab) can now be used in combination with standard chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for women with advanced ovarian cancer after surgery.
Avastin is the first targeted drug to gain EU approval for the disease, as women with ovarian cancer were limited to treatment with chemotherapy and surgery until now.
Dr Timothy Perren, consultant medical oncologist at St James’s University Hospital, said: “I am delighted that Avastin has now been licensed and is therefore now potentially available to suitable women who are diagnosed with this devastating disease.
“Ovarian cancer currently has the worst outcomes of all gynaecological cancers and halting disease progression for six months is an important step forward in treating this condition.”
The drug is already licensed to treat numerous other cancer types, including colorectal cancer. It is Roche’s biggest selling medicine, making the firm $6.5 billion in sales in 2010.
The drug’s European approval was based on a Phase III study that showed women who received the combination of Avastin and chemotherapy, and then continued on Avastin alone, lived an average of six months longer without their disease getting worse, compared to those who received just chemotherapy.
But the study failed to show an increase in overall survival (OS), with final OS data not expected until 2013. The firm plans to wait for this data before it submits the drug to the FDA.
NICE battle
Avastin is not recommended by NICE for any of its indications, as the watchdog does not believe it is a cost effective treatment.
NICE will appraise Avastin’s latest use later this year, and a final decision is scheduled for February 2013, but NICE’s previous negative recommendations could be a bad omen for Roche.
Roche is keen to add that the drug will be made available through the government’s £200 million Cancer Drugs Fund whilst is it awaits NICE’s decision.
Avastin is currently the drug most commonly made available via the Fund, its use funded 2,118 times between April and December last year, according to the Rarer Cancers Forum.
Ben Adams
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