UK: Price Cut Opens Access to New Prostate Cancer Drug
The UK's National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued a "final appraisal determination" recommending the use of abiraterone, in combination with glucocorticoids, for the second-line treatment of metastatic prostate cancer.
The drug, manufactured by Janssen, can extend life by more than three months and allows patients to be treated at home. In February, NICE had refused to recommend treatment with abiraterone, despite the drug's proven therapeutic and life extending value, on the basis that at £63,200 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) the drug was too expensive.
The agency changed course when Janssen agreed to lower the price, and revised estimates of the population eligible for abiraterone treatment lowered NICE's cost estimates to £46,800 per QALY, just under its threshold for an end-of-life treatment in a small population. The new draft guidance published yesterday recommends abiraterone in combination with prednisone or prednisolone for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer that has progressed after one docetaxel-containing therapy.
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