NICE wavers on end of life exception for DLBCL CAR Ts, says Kymriah doesn't meet criteria
Inconsistencies between appraisals by U.K.'s NICE of CAR T therapies emerged Wednesday after the committee released draft guidance that said Kymriah tisagenlecleucel from Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN) does not qualify as a life-extending treatment at the end of life. The committee concluded Kymriah was not cost effective to treat diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Last month, NICE said fellow CAR T therapy Yescarta axicabtagene ciloleucel from the Kite Pharma Inc. unit of Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) met end of life criteria in the same indication.
"We were surprised that NICE have not supported the 'end of life' criteria for this population of DLBCL patients and strongly disagree with this decision," Novartis said in an emailed statement. "This relates to individuals who have already failed two previous therapies, and for the vast majority of this population, life expectancy can be counted in months rather than years. This is in contrast to a recent review for the same class of treatment and population of patients."...