NICE and cancer drugs - the facts .This page was last updated: 11 October 2012 .
... Drugs, especially those for cancer, which extend life at the end of life are very important and since January 2009, NICE has given special weight to them.
In 2009, NICE agreed new criteria for appraising drugs which can extend life for people with terminal cancer. Up to 30 Septembert 2012, 29 pieces of guidance have been published where these new criteria were considered for 37 anti-cancer agents, of which 10 resulted in positive recommendations for use in the NHS.
The Appraisal Committee recommended lenalidomide for multiple myeloma, sunitinib for the first-line treatment of renal cell carcinoma and for unresectable and/or metastatic GIST, oral topotecan for small-cell lung cancer,
Trabectedin for soft tissue sarcoma
and pemetrexed maintenance treatment for non-small cell lung cancer, trastuzumab plus cisplatin and capecitabine or 5-fluorouracil for HER2-positive metastatic gastric cancer (IHC3 positive subgroup only), pazopanib for renal cell carcinoma, azacitadine for myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia and acute myeloid leukaemia and abiraterone in combination with prednisolone for the castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer.
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http://www.nice.org.uk/aboutnice/howwework/paslu/ListOfPatientAccessSchemesApprovedAsPartOfANICEAppraisal.jsp
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The acquisition cost of trabectedin for the treatment required after the fifth cycle is carried out by producer Roger Wilson, Director of the Sarcoma UK said: I am delighted that trabectedin has been approved is the end of a difficult process for patients and sarcomas. physicians who treat them, as well as Nice. This drug benefits, most of the small number of patients who receive it. I have long believed that trabectedin has an important role in the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma. The manufacturer, PharmaMar, deserves be commended for his determination to get this drug approved and must be thanked for its constructive approach to make the treatment available to patients in the United Kingdom.
NICE draft guidance published earlier this year does not recommend trabectedin for use on the NHS because of its high cost. However, PharmaMar then offered to cover the cost of the drug to a patient who needs beyond the five cycles of treatment. This reduces the overall cost of trabectedin in the sense of NICE NHS is now able to recommend the drug.