Mesothelioma Medication Alimta Receives Approval from UK Health Officials for Lung Cancer

Alimta Receives Approval from UK Health Officials

The British agency that oversees the costs and benefits of treatments for the country's patients under its national health service has recently added the cancer drug Alimta to its list of recommended treatments for mesothelioma and certain other forms of lung cancer. The recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is a welcome bit of good news for the drug's manufacturer, US-based Eli Lilly & Co. In April, the agency had passed a preliminary ruling not to recommend the drug.

While the UK market does not compare in its size to the much larger US customer base for pharmaceuticals, NICE's recommendations to carry some weight with organizations who must make similar decisions. Agencies such as other national health care providers, as well as private insurers, regard the NICE recommendation list as a benchmark for their own policies.

Recently, NICE released their recommendation for the application of Alimta (generically known as pemetrexed) combined with cisplatin, a chemotherapy treatment with a platinum base, as a first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and adenocarcinoma, a type of lung cancer commonly found in long-time tobacco smokers. Previously, this treatment routine had also received approval for the treatment of mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the lining of the lungs and usually stems from long-term exposure to asbestos. Alimta had also received a recommendation as a second-line treatment for the most common forms of lung cancer earlier in the approval process.

One of the reasons for the agency's refusal to recommend the treatment in April was due to cost concerns. Due to budget limitations on the country's National Health Service (NHS), some of the more costly treatment options often do not receive government approval. However, the effectiveness of the treatment routine, combined with the need for less frequent hospital visits, earned the drug a second look from the agency. With a treatment routine that includes Alimta and cisplatin, patients are only required to undergo chemotherapy once every three weeks, as opposed to weekly or twice a week for other chemotherapy regimens.

According to national health department statistics, lung cancer claims more lives in the UK than any other form of cancer. Only breast cancer occurs more often in British patients than lung cancer. Also, with many older buildings throughout the country containing asbestos and many older construction workers and shipbuilders having been exposed to the toxic material over the years, cases of mesothelioma have skyrocketed throughout the British Isles.

Nick Thatcher, a Professor in Medical Oncology at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust said that NICE's decision to recommend Alimta is "fantastic news" for patients diagnosed with NSCLC. He also said that the "targeting" of patients with NSCLC helped to affirm the efficacy of the treatment method and praised NICE for approving public funding of the treatment for British patients.

NICE will publish their Final Appraisal Determination on the use of Alimta as a first-line treatment next month and will be available on their website at www.nice.org.uk. This report from the agency will also be the first to take histological data into account to prove the cost-effectiveness of treatment.

Sources: Reuters, PharmacyEurope

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