BMS says Nice refuses backing for its immunotherapy Opdivo to treat lung cancer
pharmafile | May 12, 2016 | News story | Medical Communications, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing |
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has rejected US pharma firm Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) immune-oncology drug Opdivo as a treatment for lung cancer, the company said.
Confirming the regulatory decision, the company said regulators rejected the therapy despite being offered several schemes to help make the medicine affordable to the NHS including one in which the company pays for all treatment beyond 1 year.
Johanna Mercier, general manager, Bristol-Myers Squibb UK & Ireland, said: “While today’s decision is disappointing for lung cancer patients, it is also a setback for British cancer care because it shows that the system which is intended to provide UK patients with new medicines has denied them yet again. BMS has offered a number of pricing proposals to Nice and the Department of Health, which we are confident provide value to the NHS in lung and for nivolumab uses in other cancers.”
In 2012, almost 44,500 people in the UK were diagnosed with lung cancer. UK survival rates lag behind those of some other European countries and around 80% of those diagnosed with advanced disease dye within one year.
Anjali Shukla






