NICE guidance will deprive UK patients with newly-diagnosed advanced melanoma of Yervoy

US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) today expressed its disappointment that the UK drugs watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued draft guidance which effectively denies access to Yervoy (ipilimumab) for National Health Service patients with previously-untreated advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma, not involved in clinical trials.

In preliminary draft guidance issued this morning, the NICE recommends that Yervoy is used only in the context of research as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced malignant melanoma which is either unresectable (when the full tumor cannot be removed) or metastatic (the cancer has spread to other parts of the body). The draft guidance states that people currently receiving ipilimumab as part of their NHS care should continue with the treatment until they and their doctor consider it appropriate to stop.

New clinical data could see review of the recommendation