In a U-turn, UK's NICE to recommend AstraZeneca's Lynparza

In final draft guidance published today, England and Wales medicines watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) says it intends to recommend the drug Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca’s (LSE: AZN) Lynparza (olaparib) for maintenance treatment of relapsed platinum-sensitive ovarian, fallopian tube and peritoneal cancer.

The drug is for cancers in people who have tested positive for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, and whose disease has responded to platinum-based chemotherapy.
Specifically, the draft recommendations say that olaparib should be available for people only if they have had 3 or more courses of platinum-based chemotherapy and the drug cost of olaparib for people who remain on treatment after 15 months is met by the company.

The NICE independent Appraisal Committee, which developed the draft guidance, had previously asked AstraZeneca to provide more information on the cost effectiveness of the drug (The Pharma Letter August 6). Specifically requested was information on the subgroup of patients with relapsed disease who have had three or more courses of platinum-based chemotherapy.  The company provided this further information for the committee’s consideration. The analysis supplied by the company included both a patient access scheme in which the company meets the cost of the drug for people who remain on treatment after 15 months and a proposed reduction to the list price, which allowed the draft guidance to move from potentially not recommending the drug to instead saying that olaparib should be available for this particular group of people.