Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo receives provisional NICE backing for skin cancer

Bristol-Myers Squibb has announced that its new cancer therapy Opdivo has received a provisional recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The skin cancer immunotherapy has been endorsed by final draft guidance from the regulator, potentially opening the door for its use as a monotherapy among NHS patients in England and Wales.

It has been recommended as a new option for advanced melanoma patients after demonstrating a novel mode of action and strong safety and efficacy results from clinical trials.

The PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor works by enhancing the ability of the immune system to find and fight cancer, and could be a useful tool in combating advanced melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

Bristol-Myers Squibb has welcomed the news and now hopes to convince NICE to overturn previous draft guidance rejecting Opdivo as a lung cancer therapy.

Johanna Mercier, general manager of Bristol-Myers Squibb for the UK and Ireland, said the company is "committed to continued collaboration with the reimbursement authorities to ensure that UK lung cancer patients gain rapid access to our innovative medicines in the same way that melanoma patients now will".