NICE has recommended that the drug ipilimumab (also called Yervoy and manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited) is made available as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced malignant melanoma when the full tumour cannot be removed or the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

In separate new NICE guidance, people with prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, and who have been treated with the cytotoxic drug docetaxel, will be given access to enzalutamide through the NHS (enzalutamide is also known as Xtandi and manufactured by Astellas Pharma).

Professor Carole Longson, centre for health technology evaluation director at NICE, said: “Both cancer treatments are recommended on the basis that the manufacturers provide them to the NHS with a patient access scheme, where there is a discount on the price of the drug. We are also very pleased that the manufacturers have worked with us to provide more evidence so that we are able to recommend both treatments.”

For more details, go to: https://www.nice.org.uk/News/Press-and-Media/nice-issues-guidance-recommending-two-new-cancer-treatments