NICE decides not to recommend lapatinib for women with advanced breast cancer
March 05, 2016
However, a lack of quality data meant that it was unable to fully assess the benefits of lapatinib in comparison to Herceptin.
Sir Andrew said: "The committee felt that it had not been presented with evidence of the drug's efficacy for specific groups of patients likely to continue treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin) after their disease has progressed and that recommending lapatinib could serve to displace other cost-effective NHS treatments."
Manufacturers and other stakeholders have an opportunity to appeal against this final decision from NICE until June 24th 2010, after which final guidance will be published.
Hilary Tovey, policy manager at Cancer Research UK, said: "We are disappointed that NICE and the manufacturers have failed to come to a decision to make lapatinib available on the NHS.
"Cancer Research UK is already supporting clinical trials to find out whether lapatinib is more effective than other treatments for some women with breast cancer. We hope the results of these trials will provide better evidence to support the introduction of lapatinib on the NHS in the future."
Source: Cancer Research UK