Pfizer’s Xalkori receives lung cancer recommendation from NICE

Pfizer's lung cancer therapy Xalkori has been recommended as a new treatment for lung cancer by the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The crizotinib-based therapy has been provisionally recommended in new NICE draft guidance as a second-line option for non-small-cell lung cancer patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive forms of the disease.

To be taken twice daily, the oral tablet therapy was previously deemed not to be cost-effective enough for routine NHS use by NICE, as the evidence base was immature at that time, meaning its overall survival benefits had not been confirmed.

However, the regulator has now reappraised the drug after Pfizer provided analyses with newer clinical evidence, as well as a further discount on the price. This review came as part of a NICE programme to appraise treatments first made available on the Cancer Drugs Fund prior to its reform earlier this year.

NICE already recommends Xalkori as a first-line option for some lung cancer patients. Final guidance will be published in December that will determine whether or not the drug will be made available to a wider patient population.

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