20 October 2016 - People with kidney cancer set to benefit from a new innovative immunotherapy, after NICE says it should be available on the NHS.

NICE recommends nivolumab for people with advanced renal cell cancer (RCC) – a type of kidney cancer.

Nivolumab is a form of immunotherapy, a treatment that has been hailed as a an innovative way to battle cancer – it works by harnessing the power of the patient’s own immune system to destroy their cancer cells

In July 2016 the NICE appraisal committee found the trial data on nivolumab for kidney cancer was immature, which meant the long-term survival was uncertain. Therefore, it could not be recommended for routine NHS use.

In response the company adjusted their cost-analysis and proposed a new simple discount patient access scheme for nivolumab. They also provided data from recently published phase I and phase II trials, which included longer-term follow-up data on mortality.

Read NICE press release