NICE Draft Guidance Rejects Sanofi's Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Treatment Zaltrap
The UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued new draft guidance that does not recommend aflibercept (Zaltrap, Sanofi) for treating metastatic colorectal cancer resistant to or progressing after treatment with an oxaliplatin-containing regimen.
NICE Chief Executive Sir Andrew Dillon commented that, "Although the independent committee considered aflibercept to be a clinically effective treatment, it could not be considered a cost-effective use of NHS." The draft guidance specifies that people currently taking aflibercept will not stop receiving it, and that they have the option to continue treatment until they and their clinicians consider it appropriate to stop.
Metastatic colorectal cancer is defined as when the primary cancer has spread from the colon or rectum to other parts of the body, such as the liver. The closing date for comments on the draft guidance is 12 July 2013.