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Cancer: Drugs

Volume 507: debated on Friday 12 March 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what drugs for the treatment of cancer the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has (a) recommended and (b) not recommended for NHS use since 1 November 2008; how long the appraisal of each took; and whether the pharmaceutical company supplying each such drug offered to make it available on a risk-sharing basis. (321547)

The information requested is shown in the table. For each of the appraisals, the table shows whether one or more Patient Access Schemes agreed between the Department of Health and the manufacturer have been considered by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

Topic

Start of NICE appraisal1

Date of final NICE guidance

Recommendation

Patient access scheme considered by NICE

Yondelis (trabectedin) for soft tissue sarcoma

September 2008

February 2010

Partial recommendation

Yes

Hycamtin (topotecan) for small cell lung cancer

August 2008

November 2009

Partial recommendation

No

Hycamtin (topotecan) for Cervical Cancer (recurrent)

December 2008

October 2009

Partial recommendation

No

Sutent (sunitinib) for Gastrointestinal stromal tumours

August 2008

September 2009

Partial recommendation

Yes

Alimta (pemetrexed) for the first-line treatment of non- small-cell lung cancer

October 2008

September 2009

Partial recommendation

No

Erbitux (cetuximab) for Colorectal Cancer (first line)

January 2008

August 2009

Partial recommendation

Yes

Avastin (bevacizumab) (first-line), Nexavar (sorafenib) (first-line and second-line), Sutent (sunitinib) (second-line) and Torisel (temsirolimus) (first-line) for the treatment of advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma

September 20072

August 2009

Not recommended

Nexavar (sorafenib) - yes

Avastin (bevacizumab )-yes

Sutent (sunitinib) - yes

Mabthera (rituximab) for first-line treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

September 2008

July 2009

Partial recommendation

No

Erbitux (cetuximab) for Head and Neck Cancer (squamous cell carcinoma)

September 2008

June 2009

Not Recommended

No

Revlimid (lenalidomide) for Multiple Myeloma

April 2008

June 2009

Partial recommendation

Yes

Sutent (sunitinib) for the first-line treatment of advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma

September 20072

March 2009

Partial recommendation

Yes

Tarceva (erlotinib) for the treatment of non- small-cell lung cancer

March 2006

November 2008

Partial recommendation

Yes

1 The date NICE commenced work on the appraisal. NICE will also have carried out scoping work for the appraisal before this date.

2 This is the date on which the Multiple Technology Appraisal (MTA) began for Avastin (bevacizumab) (first-line), Nexavar (sorafenib) (first-line and second-line), Sutent (sunitinib) (first and second-line) and Torisel (temsirolimus) (first-line) for the treatment of advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The MTA was subsequently split and Sutent (sunitinib) for the first-line treatment of renal cell carcinoma was considered in a separate single technology appraisal.