[Ip-health] Press Release: NICE wants Pharmas to share in Dasatinib/Nilotinib Costs

[Joana Ramos]

FYI
>
> "We hope that the pharmaceutical companies that make these medicines
> have been able to provide more robust evidence for the appraisal
> committee's next meeting. And it would be heartening to hear that they
> are prepared to share some of the very high cost of the drugs with the
> NHS."

Joana
--------------------------------
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/175165.php

NICE Appraisal Of Dasatinib And Nilotinib For Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia
06 Jan 2010

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is
currently appraising the use of dasatinib (made by Bristol Myers-Squibb)
and nilotinib (Novartis) for chronic myeloid leukaemia in patients whose
treatment with imatinib has failed due to resistance and/or intolerance.

As with all NICE appraisals, an independent committee of experts and lay
people considered evidence presented by the manufacturers of the
medicines being appraised. In this case, very little evidence of the
efficacy of either dasatinib or nilotinib compared to the current
treatment - an increased dose of imatinib - was presented. The
Assessment Group was unable to identify sufficient published evidence
for the treatments being appraised: only one included study assessed
either of the technologies under review against a relevant comparator -
a randomised controlled trial comparing dasatinib with high-dose imatinib.

The cost of the treatments was also considered to be too high for the
benefit they appear to provide.

The interim draft guidance, published 16 November 2009, therefore did
not recommend dasatinib or nilotinib. This interim decision was then
opened to consultation, and the manufacturers given the opportunity to
provide further evidence for the independent committee to consider at
its next meeting, on 13 January 2010.

The manufacturers also have the opportunity to propose a Patient Access
Scheme, which can make it easier for the NHS to afford expensive new
treatments. In recent months several pharmaceutical companies have
proposed such schemes and these have led to drugs being recommended by
NICE for use in the NHS.

Professor Peter Littlejohns, Clinical and Public Health Director at NICE
said: "Although there is some evidence to suggest that dasatinib and
nilotinib could be considered clinically effective in cases of chronic
myeloid leukaemia (CML) where treatment with imatinib has not worked,
the quality of that evidence was extremely poor. This, coupled with the
very high cost of the drugs, meant that the independent appraisal
committee could not recommend these drugs as an appropriate use of NHS
resources.

"We hope that the pharmaceutical companies that make these medicines
have been able to provide more robust evidence for the independent
appraisal committee's next meeting. And it would be heartening to hear
that they are prepared to share some of the very high cost of the drugs
with the NHS."

This draft guidance has been issued for consultation: NICE has not yet
issued final guidance to the NHS. NICE's preliminary recommendations
were available for public consultation from 16 November until 7 December
2009. Comments received during this consultation will be considered by
the Committee and following this meeting the next draft guidance will be
issued.

Until NICE issues final guidance, NHS bodies should make decisions
locally on the funding of specific treatments. Once NICE issues its
guidance on a technology it replaces local recommendations across the
country.

Source
NICE

-----------------------
Joana Ramos, MSW
Cancer Resources & Advocacy
Seattle WA USA
+1-206-229-2420
http://ramoslink.info/
www.bmtbasics.org