People with a rare form of blood cancer are set to benefit after NICE recommends new targeted therapy
Hundreds of people with multiple myeloma could receive a new, targeted treatment recommended for use within the Cancer Drugs Fund today (Tuesday, 29 October).
Just over 700 people in England are eligible to benefit from elranatamab for multiple myeloma that has returned and stopped responding to previous treatments, and who have had at least three lines of other kinds of treatment and whose cancer has worsened since receiving the last treatment.
Elranatamab, also known as Elrexfio and made by Pfizer, is recommended in final draft guidance for use in the Cancer Drugs Fund while more evidence is collected about its effectiveness.
Multiple myeloma is an incurable and progressive cancer that affects the bone marrow and has a substantial impact on quality of life and life expectancy.
Our independent appraisal committee agreed that additional weight could be applied to the evaluation of elranatamab in recognition of the condition’s severity.
Clinical trial evidence suggests elranatamab could increase how long people have before their condition gets worse but further evidence is needed to show that people live longer with the treatment.
I am pleased that NICE is continuing to focus on what matters most and has recommended this targeted treatment option.
Multiple myeloma is a difficult to treat, rare and devastating form of cancer which can be debilitating, painful and has substantial impact on quality of life.
There are limited treatment options so I know this drug will be welcomed by patients. This is the latest treatment NICE has recommended for multiple myeloma, with three other drugs also recommended in 2024.Its use through the Cancer Drugs Fund will give people access to this promising new fourth-line treatment while longer-term data on its use is collected to establish whether it is clinically and cost effective.
Elranatamab is a targeted therapy given as an injection under the skin, either in the abdomen or thigh. It attaches to specific multiple myeloma cancer cells and the immune system’s T-cells, bringing them together to help the immune system destroy the cancer cells. It aims to treat the cancer cells without harming healthy ones.
Elranatamab was previously recommended in draft guidance with managed access. This was based on the company demonstrating it was cost-effective compared with pomalidomide plus dexamethasone, the main comparable drug at this line of treatment.
However, the company then provided further analysis comparing elranatamab with two other treatments that might be used in people who have had pomalidomide plus dexamethasone at the same stage of treatment. As elranatamab was cost-effective compared with both these treatments the previous restriction in the recommendation was no longer required.
Around 5,000 people are diagnosed with multiple myeloma each year in England.
The company has a confidential commercial arrangement in place which makes elranatamab available to the NHS with a discount.
In our final draft guidance published today, elranatamab is recommended for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, in people who have received at least three lines of treatment, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 antibody and whose cancer had progressed since their last treatment.