Roche asked to provide NICE with further Tarceva details

Roche has been requested to provide the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) with further clinical data to support a new approval for its cancer therapy Tarceva.

The UK healthcare regulator has called on the pharmaceutical company to offer further information on the use of the drug for first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic EFGR mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer.

Currently, NICE recommends the compound gefitinib for the treatment of this condition, which is currently the drug received by the majority of NHS patients.

Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE, said there is not currently enough information available for the regulator to be able to decide whether or not to recommend Tarceva for routine use in the NHS as an alternative to gefitinib.

"We hope that Roche will be able to provide this additional information so that the committee can consider it at its next meeting on the topic," he added.

Last month, the company launched its multipurpose oncology therapy Avastin in a new specification for ovarian cancer patients.