New treatment choice for advanced kidney cancer patients as Votrient®▼ made available on the NHS

From today, patients in England and Wales living with advanced renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer, can access Votrient® (pazopanib) on the National Health Service (NHS).[1] The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued positive final guidance (known as Technology Appraisal Guidance – (TAG) for Votrient, a targeted oral treatment, which has been shown to effectively slow down disease progression whilst maintaining quality of life compared with placebo.[1]

Professor Robert Hawkins, Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Christie, Manchester commented on NICE’s final guidance: “This decision means clinicians will be able to offer their patients a choice of first-line, oral treatments for advanced renal cell carcinoma, each with different side effect profiles. Pazopanib’s positive guidance from NICE allows patients in England and Wales to access an additional treatment, which can control their kidney cancer whilst maintaining quality of life – an important consideration for patients at the advanced stage of disease.”

Advanced renal cell carcinoma is an aggressive form of kidney cancer, which is generally unresponsive to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal therapy.[2,3] Targeted therapies have transformed the effective management of renal cell carcinoma,[4-6] but until today, only one such treatment has been available on the NHS.[7] NICE acknowledged that there are limited treatment options and that pazopanib would be a useful first-line treatment option for patients with advanced RCC.[1]

The NICE TAG recommends pazopanib as a first-line treatment option for people with advanced renal cell carcinoma who have not previously received cytokine therapy and who are of Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-1, on the basis that GSK provides the agreed patient access scheme.[1] The access scheme offers a straight discount at the point of invoice and makes provision for a possible partial rebate to the NHS in the future, conditional upon the outcome of the ongoing head-to-head trial versus sunitinib, the current standard-of-care (the COMPARZ trial).

Patients can often suffer delays in being able to access innovative cancer medicines, as the full clinical value typically evolves over time as further studies on the treatment’s benefits are completed. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) believes that patients should be able to access these treatments as soon as they are available, and to facilitate this, proposed an innovative and flexible approach to pricing.[1] GSK proposed to NICE a potential partial rebate, conditional upon the outcome of the COMPARZ trial.[1] GSK is confident that the appropriate evidence will be generated but if not, GSK will pay the NHS a partial rebate.

Simon Jose, General Manager, GSK UK welcomes the positive decision from NICE: “Advanced kidney cancer is a devastating disease and we are pleased that through this pricing scheme we are able to offer patients rapid access to Votrient whilst delivering value for money to the NHS.”

References

1. NICE. Pazopanib for the treatment of patients with advanced renal-cell carcinoma. Technology appraisal guidance document. www.nice.org.uk/guidance/TA215. Accessed February 2011.
2. Ljungberg B, Hanbury D, Kuczyk M et al. Renal Cell Carcinoma Guideline. 2007; 51: 1502 – 1510.
3. Gupta K et al. Epidemiologic and socioeconomic burden of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC): a literature review. Cancer Treat Rev 2008; 34: 193-205.
4. Motzer RJ, Hutson TE, Tomczak P et al. Sunitinib versus Interferon Alfa in Metastatic Renal-Cell Carcinoma. N Engl Med 2007; 356: 115-24.
5. Escudier B, Pluzanska A, Koralewski P et al. Bevacizumab plus interferon alfa-2a for treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma: a randomised, double-blind phase III trial. Lancet. 2007; 370: 2103-2111.
6. Hudes G, Carducci M, Tomczak P et al. Temsirolimus, interferon alfa, or both for advanced renal-cell carcinoma. N Engl J Med 2007; 356: 2271-2281.
7. NICE. Sunitinib for the first-line treatment of advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. NICE technology appraisal guidance 169. March 2009.