Novartis and Forest Laboratories receive NICE backing for CF therapies

Novartis and Forest Laboratories have been granted recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for their new cystic fibrosis (CF) therapies.

The UK regulator has issued final guidance endorsing Novartis' tobramycin-based treatment Tobi Podhaler and Forest's colistimethate sodium-based Colobreathe for treating lung infections in people with CF under certain circumstances.

Both new products are supplied as dry powders for inhalation and are intended to combat chronic pulmonary infection caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is the primary cause of death among CF sufferers.

As this represents is NICE's final guidance on these technologies, it now replaces local recommendations across the country.

Professor Carole Longson, health technology evaluation centre director at NICE, said: "We are pleased to recommend both colistimethate sodium and tobramycin dry powders for inhalation as options for treating such infections in people with cystic fibrosis."

Colobreathe was approved by the European Medicines Agency in February 2012, while Tobi Podhaler received ratification in July 2011.