Novartis’ Tasigna available for newly-diagnosed leukaemia

Novartis has made its chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) treatment Tasigna available to a wider patient population in the UK.

The drug, which has been on sale in Britain since 2008, has now been approved by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of adults with newly-diagnosed chronic phase Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML.

This comes after the treatment was demonstrated in a phase III clinical trial to provide better disease control performance than a leading alternative among patients in this category.

It means that the nilotinib-based therapy becomes the only second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor to demonstrate long-term efficacy in this specification.

Panos Alexakos, oncology general manager for Novartis UK and Ireland, said: "We are pleased that patients with newly-diagnosed chronic phase Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML are now able to benefit from nilotinib as a first-line treatment in the UK."

Earlier this week, the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence issued guidance recommending Novartis' Exelon patch for sufferers of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.