NICE Recommends Roche’s Leukaemia Drug, Gazyvaro
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued draft regulatory guidance for consultation recommending Gazyvaro (obinutuzumab).
The drug has received recommendation for some patients with untreated chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), on the condition that Roche provides the treatment to the NHS at a reduced price.
The recommendation is a change from back in October, when the cost regulator announced that they were minded not to recommend the drug as a result of uncertainties in the original submission.
Since the initial submission, Roche has addressed these concerns with a revised cost-effectiveness analyses and a patient access scheme.
Half of all patients requiring treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia are unable to use the standard first-line treatment of fludarabine combination therapy, and while NICE has recommended alternative treatment with bendamustine, there are some patients for which this is also unsuitable.
Professor Carole Longson, centre for health technology evaluation director at NICE, noted that Gazyvaro is “a clinically effective treatment which is associated with fewer adverse events and provides another option to help prevent people’s disease from progressing.”