Novartis receives NICE recommendation for Xolair

Novartis has been granted a final recommendation from the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for its new asthma therapy Xolair.

The product has been endorsed for the treatment of severe and persistent confirmed allergic immunoglobulin E-mediated asthma in people aged six years and older, as an add-on to optimised standard therapy for those in need of continuous or frequent treatment with oral corticosteroids.

Novartis was able to secure this recommendation from NICE after agreeing to implement a patient access scheme to make the drug as cost-effective a solution for the NHS as possible.

Professor Carole Longson, Health Technology Evaluation Centre director at NICE said the treatment holds the potential to be "an effective add-on therapy for adults, adolescents and children with severe, persistent allergic asthma, which can have a significant effect on a person's life".

This comes after NICE issued final draft guidance recommending Novartis' Lucentis as a treatment for macular oedema earlier this month.