NICE recommends GSK's ZEJULA for advanced ovarian cancer

NICE has recommended the use of GlaxoSmithKline’s ZEJULA (niraparib) on the NHS in England for adult women with advanced high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer, who have completed and shown a response to platinum-based chemotherapy.

The drug will now be made immediately available through the Cancer Drugs Fund for women regardless of whether or not they have a BRCA gene mutation, meaning up to 3,000 people in the UK could potentially benefit from the medicine.

Niraparib, a once-daily oral medicine given when advanced ovarian cancer is in remission in order to delay its return, is a PARP inhibitor that works by preventing ovarian cancer cells from being able to repair damage to their DNA. The aim of the treatment is to give women the best possible quality of life by putting off the need for further chemotherapy treatment for as long as possible.

Niraparib has been shown to significantly extend the time it took for a woman’s cancer to return, and in some participants in its pivotal Phase III trial, this was by over a year compared with placebo.

Commenting on the guidance, Victoria Clare, Chief Executive Officer at UK ovarian cancer charity Ovacome, said: “Today’s news will bring deep relief to a great many women with advanced ovarian cancer, offering them the reassurance that they will be able to access the therapy that they need on the NHS.

“It is vital that women are given every opportunity to live as full a life as possible, for as long as possible. This is what today’s decision offers and why it is so important to so many women.”

Darcy Jimenez