NICE issues negative guidance for Zytiga

UK drugs watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued new draft guidance not recommending the use of US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) subsidiary Janssen’s Zytiga (abiraterone) in combination with prednisone or prednisolone for the treatment of castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer that has progressed on or after docetaxel-containing therapy.

This is the second prostate cancer treatment that the NICE has turned down. Last month the agency issued a final negative decision on French drug major Sanofi’s Jevtana (cabazitaxel; The Pharma Letter January 12).

The Zytiga draft guidance has been issued for consultation; it has not been issued to the National Health Service, the NICE said, adding that, until final guidance is issued, NHS bodies should make decisions locally on the funding of specific treatments. Once NICE issues its final guidance on a technology, it replaces local recommendations across the country.