Cost regulators for the National Health Service in England and Wales have endorsed funding for Roche’s cancer therapy Gazyvaro, Bayer’s eye jab Eylea and Allergan's eye implant Ozurdex.

The Institute has published final guidance recommending Roche’s Gazyvaro (obinutuzumab) alongside chlorambucil as a first-line treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and co-existing medical conditions in patients who can’t take fludarabine-based therapy, and only if bendamustine-based therapy is also not suitable.

Gazyvaro is the first ‘type II’ anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody licensed for the treatment of CLL and is designed to attack blood cancers more aggressively than ‘type I’ treatments such as MabThera (rituximab). The Swiss drugmaker says the drug has a dual mode of attack as it kills tumour cells directly and alerts the body’s immune system to ‘enemy’ cancer cells, boosting its response. 

In clinical trials, a regimen of Gazyvaro/chemotherapy reduced the risk of death by 53% and meant that patients remained in remission more than 18 months longer than those receiving chemotherapy alone. And fresh data from the Phase III GADOLIN study just presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting also show that Gazyvaro in combination with bendamustine cut the risk of disease worsening or death by 45% versus the latter alone.

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