NICE recommends new advanced treatment for lymphoma in the UK
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has claimed more than 700 people in the UK could benefit from the new treatment for this particular cancer.
Today, NICE announced they would be recommending Roche’s Columvi (glofitamab) for NHS use as a treatment option for a type of blood cancer known as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that develops in the glands, each year.
Columvi will be available as a treatment option for adult patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL after two or more previous systemic treatments.
The recommendation and approval for Columvi were based on clinical trial evidence, which displayed that individuals with DLBCL reached complete remission with no signs or symptoms of cancer. Against this backdrop, the results from the trial also suggests that people taking Columvi can live longer before their condition worsens.
Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at NICE, said that the recommendation of Columvi is ‘good news’ as it is ‘clinically and cost-effective for treating people with this advanced form of cancer.
‘The sooner people can access the best treatment for them, the better the chance they have of living for longer and improving their quality of life.’
As it stands, in England, over 5,000 people are diagnosed with DLBCL and the current standard treatment options available are comprised of a combination of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, bone marrow transplants and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies.
NHS chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, added that the new recommended treatment is ‘the latest in a long list of cutting-edge drugs available on the NHS to help people with cancer live longer with a better quality of life.’
Image: National Cancer Institute
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