Although we will not be issuing a formal press release, we wanted
to let you know just over a thousand people are set to benefit
from a new treatment for adults with gastric cancer recommended
by NICE today (Friday, 26 July).
Pembrolizumab, also known as Keytruda and made by Merck Sharp and
Dohme, is recommended in final draft guidance for treating
advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.
Draft guidance published in March could not recommend the
treatment for the whole patient population as the cost estimates
were too high. Following an improved commercial arrangement
between the company and NHS England the treatment can now be
recommended by NICE as a cost-effective use of NHS resources for
the whole eligible patient population, just over 1,000
people.
Life expectancy with the condition is poor. NICE's independent
appraisal committee noted this may particularly be the case for
younger adults who tend to be diagnosed when their cancer is more
advanced.
Curative surgery is usually not an option and eating and
swallowing difficulties can be an issue - often stents are used
which are not always successful and some patients will need tube
feeding as the condition progresses. Impaired swallowing can make
oral treatments difficult to take.
Pembrolizumab is an immunotherapy given as a drip infusion into a
vein. It helps the immune system find and kill cancer cells.
Clinical trial evidence shows pembrolizumab plus other
chemotherapies increases how long people have before their
condition gets worse and how long they live compared with placebo
plus other chemotherapies.
As the drug has a positive recommendation for routine
commissioning it will be available to people from today.
The company has a confidential commercial access agreement which
makes pembrolizumab available to the NHS with a discount.
There are just over 5,500 cases of gastric or gastro-oesophageal
junction cancer in England each year.
Read the full final draft guidance for pembrolizumab with
chemotherapy for treating HER2-negative advanced gastric or
gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma on the NICE website:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/gid-ta11039/documents/html-content-7
ENDS
About the guidance
- Pembrolizumab with platinum and fluoropyrimidine-based
chemotherapy is recommended, within its marketing authorisation,
as an option for untreated locally advanced unresectable or
metastatic HER2negative gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction
adenocarcinoma in adults whose tumours express PDL1 with a
combined positive score (CPS) of 1 or more.
- Pembrolizumab is only recommended if the company provides it
according to the commercial arrangement.
