NICE Blocks NHS Use Of Glaxo Blood Platelet Booster Revolade

10th Jun 2010 01:01

LONDON (Dow Jones)--The U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, or NICE, Thursday said it won't recommend publicly-funded use of GlaxoSmithKline PLC's (GSK) Revolade drug for treatment of a rare blood clotting disorder that can cause dangerous bleeding, as the medicine is too expensive when compared with alternatives. The drug, also known as eltrombopag, was discovered through a research collaboration between Glaxo and U.S.-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) and helps stimulate bone marrow into producing blood platelets in patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Platelets cause blood to clot. But Britain's healthcare cost-effectiveness watchdog Thursday said it "concluded that, although eltrombopag can raise platelet levels, the evidence was very unclear about how many health benefits eltrombopag would provide compared with other existing treatments. The cost of eltrombopag in relation to the estimated health benefits was also far greater than what is normally considered a cost effective use of NHS resources." Nice said final guidance on the issue is likely to be published in October this year. -By Sten Stovall, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9292; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 09, 2010 20:01 ET (00:01 GMT)