The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has endorsed NHS funding for Cell Therapeutics’ Pixuvri to treat certain patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Following a stream of consultations the Institute has finally found a place for the drug on the NHS, after narrowing its scope and including a patient access scheme helped improve its value for money.
In final draft guidance, the Appraisal Committee concluded that Pixuvri is indeed cost-effective, but only for patients who have previously been treated with MabThera (rituximab) and those receiving third or fourth line treatment.
In these scenarios, the drug’s incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was estimated to be under £22,000 per QALY, it said.
Elsewhere, NHS patients in England and Wales could soon get routine access to Bayer’s Eylea (aflibercept) after cost regulators backed the drug for treating sight problems caused by macular oedema.
In final draft guidance published this week, NICE said the drug should be an option for treating visual impairment caused by macular oedema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), where the vein to the retina is blocked.
In a speedy process, the independent Committee decided that an appraisal consultation document was not needed because it is recommending the treatment in line with its licensed indication, and so final guidance is expected in February.
Including a confidential discount offered by Bayer, NICE noted that the incremental cost of Eylea was estimated to be £12,300 per QALY gained compared with dexamethasone and that, even in the worst case scenario, the cost fell within the range that would normally be considered a cost-effective use of NHS resources.
