NICE knocks-back Janssen's Imbruvica in mantle cell lymphoma

Janssen has received mixed news from the UK’s cost-effectiveness watchdog for its cancer drug Imbruvica (ibrutinib).

In draft guidance NICE has declined to recommend Imbruvica’s use in England and Wales to treat mantle cell lymphoma.

The Institute said the drug’s use for this indication would not be a cost-effective use of NHS resources, despite Janssen having agreed to discount its price through a patient access scheme.

Imbruvica was previously available through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) and NICE’s appraisal committee said they would consider any proposal from Janssen to include it in the new version of the CDF.

But they warned that for this to happen the company would have do more to prove its cost-effectiveness.

NICE expects to produce final guidance on the drug’s use for mantle cell lymphoma in January, and the draft guidance doesn’t change the position of patients who have already been started on Imbruvica.

Meanwhile, NICE has backed Imbruvica to treat Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinaemia, a rare cancer that causes plasma cells to grow out of control.

The Institute’s draft guidance recommended the drug’s inclusion within the new version of the CDF as a treatment for people who have had at least one previous therapy or as first-line treatment when chemo-immunotherapy is unsuitable.