First immunotherapy to be available on NHS to prevent melanoma returning post-surgery

UK medicines cost-effectiveness watchdog theNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued a Final Appraisal Document (FAD) recommending the reimbursement within the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) of the immunotherapy, Opdivo(nivolumab), as adjuvant treatment after surgery, to potentially keep the cancer from returning, for melanoma patients in England, the drug’s maker, Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) revealed today.

This recommendation for nivolumab in the adjuvant setting signifies an important milestone for patients with resected stage III and IV disease in the UK who, before now, have predominantly been monitored through routine surveillance and may not have received an active treatment following surgery. Nivolumab is the first of a modern type of immunotherapy, known as PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, to be approved in the European Union. It is immediately available on the CDF as adjuvant treatment of early stage melanoma, and could benefit around 1,480 melanoma patients each year in England.

"Until now, patients at high risk of melanoma returning after their initial surgery have had limited options to reduce their risk of recurrence, which, if it occurs, can prove fatal. Today's recommendation opens up a new opportunity for these patients to access effective immunotherapy," said Dr Pippa Corrie, Consultant and Associate Lecturer in Medical Oncology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. "There have been huge advances in the treatment of advanced melanoma in recent years, but cure rates are low. So, being able to give nivolumab to high risk patients after their surgery is a significant step forward in improving outcomes for what can be a devastating disease."