UK's NICE consults on updating guidance for Tarceva and Iressa

The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said this morning that it is reviewing existing guidance on the use of Tarceva (erlotinib) from Swiss pharma major Roche (ROG: SIX) and Iressa (gefitinib) from Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) for treating non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has progressed after prior chemotherapy.

Existing NICE guidance recommends Tarceva with a patient access scheme as an alternative to docetaxel (which was marketed as Taxotere by Sanofi-Aventis before the patent expired in 2010) as a “second-line” treatment after prior chemotherapy. It is not recommended in people for whom docetaxel is unsuitable. NICE was unable to make a recommendation on Iressa for second-line treatment because no evidence submission was received from the manufacturer. A trial directly comparing Tarceva with docetaxel has also recently published showing that Tarceva is less effective at extending progression-free survival in patients whose tumors test negative for the EGFR-TK mutation.

Draft guidance