NICE says Xalkori is not cost effective in ALK-positive NSCLC

US pharma behemoth Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has today (August 16) expressed concern and disappointment that the final appraisal determination (FAD) from the UK’s National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not recommend Xalkori (crizotinib) for previously-treated, ALK positive advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

While the NICE has acknowledged that crizotinib may offer eligible patients better outcomes compared to standard chemotherapy, it has not been recommended for use within the National Health Service because it does not consider the drug to be cost-effective.  In March, NICE issued preliminary guidance indicating the drug was likely to be rejected on cost grounds. Today it confirmed that decision.

Pfizer is concerned about the impact this decision will have on eligible patients with previously treated NSCLC, whose tumours have been identified as ALK positive. As a personalised medicine, crizotinib allows targeted treatment of a specific group of patients who are most likely to benefit. In reality, the UK’s limited and slow-paced adoption of innovative medicines such as crizotinib poses a real threat to both the government’s goal to have UK cancer outcomes among the highest in Europe and its vision to make the UK a world leader in life sciences, the company argued.