NICE Approves Lung-Cancer Drug Provided Manufacturer Roche Offers Discounted Price For NHS, UK

Main Category: Lung Cancer
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 28 Nov 2008 - 1:00 PST

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The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended erlotinib, an epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor, as an alternative to docetaxel as a second-line treatment option for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) provided the manufacturer (Roche) supplies erlotinib at a discounted and equivalent price to docetaxel. A Special Report in The Lancet Oncology published early Online reports on the evidence considered during this final approval process.

NICE had previously ruled against recommending the drug and after considering some quality of life issues such as the oral administration of erlotinib and the reduced risk of toxicities such as febrile neutropenia, the NICE Committee concluded that these additional benefits were not sufficient to consider erlotinib cost-effective compared with docetaxel. However, after Roche proposed a scheme to equalise costs between the two treatments, the Committee recommended approval for patients as an alternative second-line treatment: "The recommendation was made on the condition that the manufacturer provides erlotinib at an overall treatment cost (including administration, adverse events, and monitoring costs) equal to that of docetaxel", state the authors of the Special Report. This is the latest example of NICE and manufacturers collaborating to reduce drug costs within the NHS.

For full Special Report please see: http://press.thelancet.com/TLOnice.pdf

Tony Kirby
Press Officer
The Lancet
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