The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has today published its initial guidance on the drug vorasidenib for treatment of low-grade glioma. It has said: “Vorasidenib is not required to be funded and should not be used routinely in the NHS in England for the condition and population in the recommendations. This is because the available evidence does not suggest that vorasidenib is value for money in this population.”
This is an interim decision while more evidence on the effectiveness of the drug is gathered.
This medicine can be used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older, with grade 2 astrocytoma or oligodendroglioma with a susceptible isocitrate dehydrogenase mutation (IDH1 or IDH2). In clinical trials, the drug has been shown to extend progression-free survival, lengthening the time that patients could go without needing radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
NICE requires more data to support its robust decision making and we remain committed to working with them to make the patient case during the future appraisal process.
NICE has a fixed pot of money, so the approval of new drugs drains an existing, not expanding, pot. We will continue to make the case to government to provide the financial climate to make the UK a place where industry can trial new drugs and where effective drugs can progress through market licensing to NHS reimbursement with the speed that brain tumour patients need.
We will also communicate with the drug manufacturer to see what movement and new information is likely to come on stream, and understand it is working to address the questions asked.
Dan Knowles, CEO at Brain Tumour Research, said: “Low-grade brain tumours are not low impact and it’s disappointing that patients won’t yet be able to access vorasidenib through the NHS. Without treatment options, patients can be left struggling with worsening symptoms that have a profound impact on their lives. We remain committed to working with NICE to highlight the impact of brain tumours on patients, and to make the case to government about the importance of investment in innovative new treatments. Please don’t leave patients with brain tumours behind.”
