Eisai chief pledges to subsidize thyroid cancer drug in CDF fight

14 July 2016

The head of Eisai (TYO: 4523) in Europe has pledged to subsidize the cost of thyroid cancer drug Lenvima (lenvatinib) if health bosses agree to include it in the revamped Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF).

In an exclusive interview with the Pharma Letter, Gary Hendler, chairman and chief executive of Eisai EMA, brands the decision to exclude the oral kinase inhibitor from the CDF ‘unethical and borderline discriminatory’.

He claims the 'powerful drug', for the treatment of adults with advanced or metastatic thyroid cancer, refractory to radioactive iodine (R-RAI), was not included on the CDF when it received EU approval last year because the fund was closed for restructure. And, with a backlog of medicines to be reviewed by NICE, it will potentially not be available to patients on the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) until at least May 2018.

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