Roche's Gazyvaro approved by UK's NICE while new positive data presented at ASCO

Clinicians in England and Wales are now able to prescribe Gazyvaro (obinutuzumab), a breakthrough blood cancer drug from Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX) on the National Health Service (NHS).

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance approves Gazyvaro in combination with chlorambucil chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and co-existing medical conditions who are unsuitable for full-dose fludarabine-based therapy, and only if bendamustine-based therapy is not suitable. This decision is supported by data from the main drug trial, CLL11, showing that Gazyvaro, combined with chlorambucil chemotherapy, prolonged patients’ remission by more than 18 months compared with those receiving the current standard chemotherapy alone, giving median progression-free survival of 29.9 months versus 11.1 months. It also allowed 22.3% of patients to achieve complete remission after treatment, while in contrast, no patients achieved complete remission when receiving chlorambucil, the current standard of care.

New Gazyvaro data at ASCO