GSK’s Tafinlar also no added benefit over vemurafenib, says IQWiG

9 April 2014

In an early benefit assessment under the German Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) had determined that UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline’s (LSE: GSK) Tafinlar (dabrafenib) has no added benefit in comparison with dacarbazine (The Pharma Letter January 7).

The IQWiG now assessed dabrafenib in comparison with vemurafenib (Roche’s Zelboraf). The report presented in the form of an addendum came to the same conclusion because the results from the indirect comparison presented by the drug manufacturer did not allow any reliable conclusions. An added benefit of dabrafenib compared with vemurafenib is therefore not proven, it concluded.

Tafinlar has been approved since August 2013 for the treatment of advanced melanoma. The drug is an option for adult patients with melanoma that has a certain abnormal protein (BRAF V600 mutation) and that is unresectable or has already formed metastases, the IQWiG noted.

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