NICE recommends Eli Lilly’s breast cancer drug Verzenios

Draft NICE guidance has recommended Eli Lilly’s twice-daily pill Verzenios (abemaciclib) as an option for adults with a type of breast cancer called hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer which has spread to other parts of the body.

In February, the cost-effectiveness watchdog initially rejected the breast cancer drug, after concluding that there was uncertainty around Verzenios plus fulvestrant treatment because there is no evidence directly comparing this therapy to exemestane plus everolimus.

Typically, people with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer receive exemestane plus everolimus after endocrine therapy.

The new positive recommendation follows an improved patient access scheme from the company, NICE said in a statement. Together with further economic modelling data provided by Lilly, this means that Verzenios can now be recommended as a cost-effective use of NHS resources.

Verzenios is a CDK4/6 inhibitor and works by blocking proteins in cancer cells which allow the cancer to divide and grow. It is given with the hormonal therapy drug fulvestrant in adults who have had hormonal therapy.

NICE’s draft guidance means Verzenioswill now come out of the Cancer Drugs Fund and be made available routinely as an option where exemestane plus everolimus would be the most appropriate alternative treatment to a CDK 4/6 inhibitor. It is estimated that around 2,500 people could be eligible for treatment with Verzenios under this guidance.

Meindert Boysen, director of the centre for health and technology evaluation at NICE, said: “Advanced breast cancer is an incurable condition and the aim of treatment is to delay it getting worse and extend survival. The committee heard that CDK4/6 inhibitors like [Verzenios] were welcomed by patients because they can delay the time before their cancer gets worse and so delay or avoid the need for chemotherapy.

NICE expects to issue its final guidance on Verzenios given with fulvestrant for hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer in September.