BMS and Roche drug reviews terminated

Compounds from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and Roche have had drug reviews terminated by the National Institute for Clinical Health and Excellence (NICE) because insufficient evidence was provided by their manufacturers.

The institute said it was unable to recommend Roche’s Avastin (bevaciumab) in combination with paclitaxel as a first-line treatment for breast cancer.

It also could not recommend the drug used with platinum-based chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with inoperable advanced, metastatic or recurrent non-small-cell lung cancer, excluding those with predominantly squamous cell histology.

NICE said BiCNU (carmustine) implants from BMS could not be recommended as an adjunct to surgery in patients with recurrent giloblastoma multiforme.

Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE, said: “Occasionally, manufactures either fail to make a submission or the submission is inadequate. Where this happens we work with the company to try and resolve the problem.”

He added that when these situations cannot be resolved, the institute will advise the NHS that it cannot recommend the technology and usually urge caution on considering its use, pending future sufficient evidence.

Last month, NICE issued guidance on Humira (adalimumab) from Abbott as a treatment for psoriasis in adult.