NICE Green Lights Pixantrone in UK

The independent body responsible for driving improvement and excellence in the health and social care system in the United Kingdom has given the green light for pixantrone as a treatment for some B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which "develops guidance, standards and information on high-quality health and social care" in the UK, has given the green light in final draft guidance for Cell Therapeutics' pixantrone (Pixuvri) following the lead set by the European Commission.

Stipulations of the recommendation

According to NICE, the drug should be funded by the National Health Services (NHS) to treat certain people with aggressive non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma.

However, the recommendation comes with a few caveats:

• - Patients must have relapsed or refractory disease.
• - Patients must have received rituximab as treatment previously.
• - This must be in the third or fourth line setting.

According to the recommendation, pixantrone is being made available for funding on the condition that Cell Therapeutics provides it at a discounted rate.

Why pixantrone has not been FDA-approved

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved pixantrone for the U.S. market – and currently shows no signs of doing so, largely due to incomplete and unimpressive clinical trial data.

Source: NICE