Novartis

New discount persuades NICE to back Novartis’ Tasigna

pharmafile | August 18, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing Glivec, NICE, Sprycel, Tasigna 

NICE has recommended Novartis’ Tasigna for use in the NHS after the blood cancer drug’s manufacturer submitted a new patient access scheme.

The Institute’s new draft guidance recommends Tasigna (nilotinib) as a second-line treatment for the chronic and accelerated phases of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML).

This means Tasigna could be used if patients become resistant or intolerant to the standard-dose form of Novartis’s other CML drug Glivec (imatinib), currently the standard treatment.

Currently if patients become resistant to Glivec, their options are limited to treatment with interferon-alfa, hydroxycarbamide or a bone marrow transplant, but today’s decision could provide a new second-line option.

NICE was previously minded not to recommend the drug because of uncertainties over its cost-effectiveness, but Tasigna’s new patient access scheme (PAS) swayed the Institute.

In an increasingly common move, however, Novartis has decided not to make the public the details of its PAS, but this sort of deal usually equates to a 10% discount on the overall price of the drug, which currently costs around £30,000 a year.

Sprycel and high dose Glivec not recommended

NICE’s recommendation also noted that Novartis has recently increased the price of its high-dose form of Glivec, taking the cost per patient to over £40,000 per year for the 800mg dose.

Consequently the Institute decided not to recommend the higher dose, and is sticking to its original 2003 guidance that only backed the standard dose form of Glivec as a first-line treatment.

NICE also noted that Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Sprycel (dasatinib) is still not recommended for funding on the NHS for CML – that is resistant or intolerant to standard-dose Glivec – as evidence for its cost-effectiveness remains ‘very weak’.

Professor Carole Longson, Health Technology Evaluation Centre Director at NICE, said: “The committee heard from clinical specialists that in practice Sprycel and Tasigna are equally as effective in treating both Glivec intolerant and Glivec-resistant disease and would be preferred over high-dose Glivec for Glivec-resistant CML.

“Both treatments are expensive and cost over £30,000 per patient per year – CML is also a chronic condition, meaning the drugs will be used for a long period of time.

“However, during consultation on draft recommendations, [Novartis] agreed to provide the drug to the NHS at a discounted price. This reduction in cost enabled the independent committee to approve [the drug] for use on the NHS.”

This decision forms part of a positive week for Novartis with the drugs watchdog, after NICE granted an appeal to review its negative decision on its eye drug Lucentis.

Ben Adams

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