NICE ‘yes’ to Lucentis – with price cut
pharmafile | October 25, 2013 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Dillon, Lucentis, NICE, Novartis
A price cut is the deal-breaking condition attached to NICE’s final draft guidance recommending Lucentis as an option for patients with a rare form of short-sightedness.
The watchdog says Novartis’s drug Lucentis (ranibizumab) should be used to treat sight problems caused by new blood vessels growing at the back of the eye in people with pathological myopia.
The chronic condition is characterised by excessive lengthening of the eye and degenerative changes at the back of the eye, which can cause blood vessels to leak or bleed into the retina – known as choroidal neovascularisation (CNV).
Loss of central vision is often the result, with around 200,000 people in the UK suffering from pathological myopia in the UK, although it is not known how many people have CNV associated with the disease.
What is known however, is that 30% of people who develop CNV in one eye will develop it in the other within eight years.
NICE says Lucentis should only be prescribed if the manufacturer makes it available to the NHS for an undisclosed reduction from the list price.
The anti-VEGF is already a staple of NHS eye therapy, approved by NICE and the Scottish Medicines Consortium to treat visual impairment due to macular oedema secondary to retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and due to diabetic macular oedema (VI-DMO) and wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
This means Novartis has got used to lowering the amount it charges, following sustained pressure from the NHS to do so – and the appearance of a competitor in the shape of Bayer’s Eylea (aflibercept).
NICE’s final guidance on pathological myopia is expected next month – and Novartis will be cheered by the news that the recommendations are going straight to final draft, bypassing a public consultation, in a bid to speed up access to the treatment.
“CNV can cause sight problems such as distorted vision, colour disturbance and even sight loss,” explained NICE chief executive Sir Andrew Dillon.
“These symptoms can come on suddenly, and may cause irreversible damage, so it’s good news that we can recommend ranibizumab as an option for people with this condition,” he added.
Adam Hill
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