Novartis’ Afinitor recommended by NICE for kidney cancer

Novartis' cancer therapy Afinitor has been recommended by the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for the treatment of advanced kidney cancer.

The therapy has been endorsed for routine use on the NHS as an option for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, meaning patients will no longer need to apply to the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) to gain access to this treatment.

NICE originally decided against recommending the drug in April 2011 due to concerns it did not provide enough benefits to justify its cost. Following this, it was made available to patients via the CDF.

However, the subsequent decision to reform the CDF led NICE to begin reappraising all the treatments included in the scheme. As part of this reappraisal, Novartis offered a further discount to the cost of the drug, leading to this current recommendation.

Professor Carole Longson, director of the centre for health technology evaluation at NICE, said: "The company engaged positively with the process of reconsidering drugs in the CDF, demonstrated their drug to be cost-effective, and as such we were pleased to make a positive recommendation."

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