NICE no for first line Tarceva
pharmafile | February 17, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing | CDF, Cancer, NICE, Roche, Tarceva
NICE no for first line Tarceva
Watchdog wants more information on Roche’s drug
NICE is not recommending Roche’s lung cancer pill Tarceva despite a patient access scheme for the drug.
The watchdog said in draft guidance it could not recommend Roche’s Tarceva (erlotinib) for the first line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic EFGR positive non-small cell lung cancer.
Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE, said: “NICE has already recommended a drug called gefitinib [AstraZeneca’s Iressa] for the first line treatment of EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC, which is now the treatment that most patients receive.
“When it was asked to consider Tarceva, our independent advisory committee concluded that it did not have enough information to be able to make the decision to recommend or not recommend it for routine use in the NHS as an alternative to gefitinib. It has therefore asked the manufacturer provide further analyses.
“We hope that Roche will be able to provide this additional information so that the committee can consider it at its next meeting on the topic,” he added.
The firm has offered a patient access scheme for the drug, but has not made the details of the discount publicly available.
But NICE says that even with the scheme in place, it still requires more information before it can recommend the drug for funding in the NHS in England.
The watchdog specifically wants to see direct clinical and economic comparisons with AstraZeneca’s Iressa (gefitinib), as this was not offered to NICE for its first appraisal.
AZ’s drug also has a patient access scheme that sees its first two months of treatment free for the NHS, and costs no more than £12,200 for a full course of treatment.
Tarceva has had a rough time with NICE as last year the watchdog said it was minded not to recommend the drug as a maintenance therapy, given that its effectiveness in this setting ‘remains unclear’.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium, which judges the cost effectiveness of drug in Scotland, recently recommended the drug for use in the country as a first line treatment.
The drug will remain available in England through the government’s £200 million Cancer Drugs Fund.
Tarceva was accessed 100 times via the Fund between April and December last year.
Ben Adams
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