Advanced kidney cancer patients now able to access Votrient®▼ (pazopanib)

From today, patients living in Scotland with advanced renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer, will have access to a new treatment choice, as Votrient® (pazopanib) is made available on the National Health Service (NHS Scotland).1 The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has issued advice to NHS Scotland on the use of Votrient for the first-line treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma. Votrient is a targeted oral treatment, which has been shown to effectively slow down disease progression whilst maintaining quality of life compared with placebo.2-4

Dr Rob Jones, Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, commented on the SMC advice: “Today’s advice from the SMC on pazopanib means that patients in Scotland now have the same access to two effective treatment options each with different side effect profiles as for patients in England and Wales. The availability of a choice of first-line oral treatments for advanced renal cell carcinoma is hugely significant for oncologists and the advanced kidney cancer patients under their care.”

Advanced renal cell carcinoma is an aggressive form of kidney cancer, which is generally unresponsive to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal therapy.5,6 Targeted therapies have transformed the effective management of advanced renal cell carcinoma,7-9 but until today, only one such treatment has been available on NHS Scotland.10,11 The SMC clinical experts noted that pazopanib would be a useful alternative, clinically effective treatment option for advanced renal cell carcimona.1

The advice issued by the SMC comes just 12 days after the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued its positive final guidance ensuring pazopanib’s availability to patients on the NHS in England and Wales.12 The SMC advice takes into account the benefits of the Patient Access Scheme offered by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and is dependent upon the continuing availability of this in NHS Scotland.1 The access scheme offers a straight discount at the point of invoice and makes provision for a potential partial rebate to NHS Scotland in the future, conditional upon the outcome of the ongoing head-to-head trial versus sunitinib, the current standard-of-care (COMPARZ trial).1 GSK is confident that the appropriate evidence will be generated but if not, GSK will pay NHS Scotland a partial rebate.

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. 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

Simon Jose, General Manager, GSK UK welcomes the positive SMC advice: “We are pleased that the SMC recognised the benefits of Votrient for this devastating disease. It’s great news that the SMC could see the value in our pricing scheme, enabling advanced kidney cancer patients in Scotland rapid access to Votrient.”

References

1. Scottish Medicines Consortium: Pazopanib (Votrient®). Number 676/11. Published 7 March 2011 at http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/Home
2. Sternberg CN, Davis ID, Mardiak J et al. Pazopanib in locally advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma: results of a randomized Phase III trial. J Clin Oncol 2010; 28: 1061-1068.
3. Hawkins R, Hodge R, Chen M et al. Quality of Life (QOL) in treatment-naive and cytokine pretreated patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treated with pazopanib: results from a Phase III double-blind, placebo-controlled trial 2009 ECCO-ESMO Poster Number 132.
4. Votrientâ Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC). GlaxoSmithKline, 2011.
5. Ljungberg B, Hanbury D, Kuczyk M et al. Renal Cell Carcinoma Guideline. 2007; 51: 1502 – 1510.
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10. Scottish Medicines Consortium: Sunitinib 12.5mg, 25mg, 50mg capsules (Sutent®). Number 384/07. Published 9 July 2007 at http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/Home
11. NICE. Sunitinib for the first-line treatment of advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. NICE technology appraisal guidance 169. March 2009.
12. NICE. Pazopanib for the treatment of patients with advanced renal-cell carcinoma. Technology appraisal guidance document. www.nice.org.uk/guidance/TA215. Accessed March 2011.
13. Karaman MW, Herrgard S, Treiber DK et al. A quantitative analysis of kinase inhibitor selectivity. Nature Biotechnology 2008; 26: 127-132.
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17. Sternberg CN, Hawkins RE, Szczylik C, et al. Randomized, double-blind phase III study of Votrient in patients with advanced/metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC): final overall survival (OS) results. Abstract and oral presentation at 35th European Society of Medical Oncology Congress, October 2010. Abstract no. LBA22.
18. Study VEG108844, a Study of Pazopanib Versus Sunitinib in the Treatment of Subjects with locally advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (COMPARZ). Received: July 2008.
19. Cancer Research UK: Types of kidney cancer. Available at: http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/type/kidney-cancer/about/types-of-kidney-cancer Accessed February 2011.
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22. Cancer Research UK: Kidney cancer UK mortality statistics. Available at: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/kidney/mortality/. Accessed February 2011.