Roche’s MabThera receives provisional NICE recommendation

Roche's cancer therapy MabThera has been endorsed as an advanced follicular lymphoma drug by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

New draft guidance from the UK regulatory body has recommended the drug in combination with CVP, CHOP, MCP and CHVPi chemotherapy regimens for patients affected by symptomatic stage III and IV follicular lymphoma.

Independent appraisals conducted on behalf of NICE demonstrated that this treatment option can be clinically efficacious and cost-effective as a first-line treatment, with the new decision set to expand MabThera's accessibility to a wider range of patients.

Professor Carole Longson, NICE's health technology evaluation centre director, said: "Some people are not fit enough to receive rituximab plus CVP, the most common form of treatment, and so other treatment options might be useful for them."

The draft guidance has now been issued for consultation, with final guidance expected to be issued in January 2012.

This comes after Roche received European approval for Tarceva as a first-line therapy for EFGR-positive non-small cell lung cancer last week.