In draft guidance published today NICE has not recommended abiraterone for prostate cancer which has spread in people whose first treatment has failed, have no or mild symptoms and for whom chemotherapy is not yet clinically indicated1.

NICE already recommends abiraterone (also known as Zytiga and manufactured by Janssen) as a ‘second-line' treatment after a docetaxel containing chemotherapy regimen. This current appraisal looks at how well the drug works when people with the disease have few symptoms and chemotherapy would not yet be given.

Commenting on the draft guidance, Sir Andrew Dillon, NICE chief executive, said: “Although abiraterone is not a new drug, it is the first treatment to become available at this point in the treatment pathway. We know how important it is for patients to have the option to delay chemotherapy and its associated side effects, so we are disappointed not to be able to recommend abiraterone for use in this way. However, the manufacturer's own economic model showed that the drug would not be cost-effective at this stage - because of this we cannot recommend the drug in this preliminary guidance. We hope that during this consultation, the manufacturer uses this opportunity to look again at its submission and provides the committee with additional information which may enable them to reconsider.”

For more details, go to: http://www.nice.org.uk/newsroom/pressreleases/NICEIssuespreliminaryRecommendationsOnEarlierTreatmentWithAbirateroneForProstateCancer.jsp