New option for people with multiple myeloma is recommended for use
Around 5,700 cases of multiple myeloma are diagnosed each year in the UK. NICE has recommended a new option for people with difficult-to-treat multiple myeloma.
Isatuximab, administered as an intravenous infusion, plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone is recommended for use within the Cancer Drugs Fund as an option for treating relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma in adults.
It will be offered as a treatment option to those people who have had lenalidomide and a proteasome inhibitor, and whose disease has progressed from their last treatment if they have had three previous forms of treatment.
The guidance says conditions of a confidential managed access agreement for isatuximab with pomalidomide and dexamethasone must also be followed.
Our independent appraisal committee has recognised more treatment options are needed for those with difficult-to-treat multiple myeloma. These are patients whose disease has returned or become resistant to the treatments they’ve already had.
Some of the data our committee has already seen shows promise that isatuximab plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone delays the disease from progressing and increases how long people live compared with current treatment options.
Its use via the Cancer Drugs Fund will add a fourth line treatment option while data from an on-going clinical trial and from NHS use is collected to establish whether it is cost effective.”
The treatment could not be recommended for routine use on the NHS because the cost-effectiveness estimates are uncertain as there are limitations in the clinical data.
However collecting more data from an ongoing trial, and from NHS practice, will help to address some of the uncertainties meaning it can be recommended for use within the Cancer Drugs Fund.
Multiple myeloma is a type of blood cancer with approximately 5,700 new cases diagnosed each year in the UK, making it the fifth most common cancer overall.
Around 500 people a year are set to benefit from NICE’s recommendation.