Eli Lilly's Alimta gains backing from UK's NICE as maintenance therapy for advanced, non-squamous NSCLC

In an about turn by the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the agency has given a positive 'Final Appraisal Determination' for US drug major Eli Lilly's lung cancer drug Alimta (pemetrexed for injection).

Specifically, the NICE's Final Appraisal Determination recommends Alimta as an option for the maintenance treatment of people with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with other than predominantly squamous cell (non-squamous) histology if disease has not progressed immediately following platinum-based chemotherapy first-line chemotherapy. This recommendation is the second step in a three-step approval process; the NICE expects to issue its final guidance this summer, the drugmaker noted.

Alimta was approved in July 2009 in the same setting by the European Commission. However, without a positive recommendation from the NICE, patients struggle to get access under the UK's state funding agency, the National Health Service (NHS) - mainly due to their cost a factor - that is to become an issue in the country's forthcoming election campaign of the Conservative party (The Pharma Letter April 6).