NICE backs Zejula for women with newly-diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer

The UK’s health technology assessor, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), today issued a final appraisal determination (FAD) recommending the use of Zejula (niraparib) on the National Health Service NHS in England for adult women with advanced high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer, who have completed and shown a response to platinum-based chemotherapy.

Welcoming the decision, the drug’s developer, GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), noted that it will now be made immediately available via the Cancer Drugs Fund for women regardless of whether or not they have a BRCA gene mutation. This means that up to 3,000 people could potentially benefit from this medicine, which has been shown to significantly delay progression of this aggressive cancer.

In October last year, Zejula became the first PARP inhibitor to be approved as monotherapy in the European Union for certain people with platinum-responsive advanced ovarian cancer, regardless of biomarker status. In the most recent quarter, Zejula sales were $119 million, up 44% with around $73 million coming from the US market and $42 million from European countries.