UPDATE: NICE Blocks NHS Use Of Glaxo Drug Revolade

10th Jun 2010 09:28

(Adds comment from Glaxo.) By Sten Stovall Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 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." It was NICE's second rejection in as many days of a Glaxo drug and follows a final decision not to recommend the U.K. drug maker's oral breast cancer pill Tyverb on Wednesday. Responding to NICE's latest rebuff, Glaxo Thursday said in a statement that it will respond within the timeframe that the NICE evaluation process allows, adding: "GSK acknowledges that assessing the cost effectiveness of medicines can be a challenge when numbers of eligible patients are small and will continue to make every effort to work with NICE to help people living with chronic ITP achieve appropriate access to this important new treatment option." 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 10, 2010 04:28 ET (08:28 GMT)