Photo courtesy of Novartis
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued a final guidance recommending panobinostat (Farydak) be made available on the National Health Service.
In the European Union, panobinostat is approved for use in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone to treat adults with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least 2 prior treatment regimens, including bortezomib and an immunomodulatory agent.
NICE’s recommendation of panobinostat is contingent upon the drug being provided with the discount agreed upon in the patient access scheme.
NICE previously issued a guidance in which it did not recommend panobinostat, but the drug’s manufacturer, Novartis, submitted a revised economic analysis that allowed NICE to recommend the drug.
Novartis has agreed to a patient access scheme with the Department of Health. This scheme provides a discount to the list price of panobinostat, with the discount applied at the point of purchase or invoice.
The level of the discount is commercial in confidence, but the Department of Health said this patient access scheme does not constitute an excessive administrative burden on the National Health Service.
Panobinostat costs £776 per 20 mg tablet. The recommended starting dose is 20 mg, taken orally once a day, on days 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, and 12 of a 21-day cycle. Patients should receive panobinostat for 8 cycles. If they show clinical benefit, they should continue the treatment for 4 additional cycles of 6 weeks each.
