Servier heart failure treatment recommended by NICE

Servier has been granted a recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for its new chronic heart failure therapy Procoralan.

Draft guidance from the regulator has endorsed the ivabradine-based therapy as an option for people with chronic heart failure in combination with standard therapy, including beta-blocker therapy, or when beta-blocker therapy is contraindicated or not tolerated.

In reaching this decision, an independent appraisal committee assessed the benefits the drug can provide compared to current standard treatments, based on results from clinical studies.

Professor Carole Longson, NICE's health technology evaluation centre director, said: "In clinical trials ivabradine has been shown to have a beneficial effect in reducing mortality and improving quality of life in people with some types of chronic heart failure."

The draft guidance has now been issued for consultation, comments from which will inform further rulings on Procoralan by NICE.

Earlier this month, Servier agreed a new manufacturing deal with Boehringer Ingelheim, pertaining to the production of the novel antibody gevokizumab.