NICE recommends reimbursement of lenvatinib for thyroid cancer

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued a final appraisal decision (FAD) recommending the reimbursement of lenvatinib (Lenvima) for the treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer.

This recommendation by NICE and the previous approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) were based on data from the Phase III trial demonstrating that lenvatinib was associated with significant improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with progressive RAI-R DTC

“This is fantastic news for the many patients in the UK who are diagnosed with advanced thyroid cancer. From the patient’s perspective, having treatment options is very important and with this recommendation NICE are providing exactly that,” emphasized Dr Jonathan Wadsley, consultant clinical oncologist, Weston Park Hospital and Clinical Lead for Division 1 Yorkshire and Humber Clinical Research Network.

“RAI-R DTC can impact severely on a patient’s life, as well as on the lives of their loved ones,” said Kate Farnell MBE, CEO of the Butterfly Thyroid Cancer Trust. “With limited options available for patients with this type of thyroid cancer, we very much welcome this decision from NICE that demonstrates that these patients are no longer forgotten.”

“After almost three years of being licensed in the EU, I am really very pleased that NICE is finally recommending the use of lenvatinib so that patients with this form of thyroid cancer will at last have access to it in England. While patients in Scotland and Wales had access to lenvatinib much sooner — 2016 and 2017 respectively — it’s a real shame that due to a poor process that patients in England have had to wait much longer,” commented Gary Hendler, chairman & CEO EMEA, chief commercial officer, Oncology Business Group at Eisai. “Eisai’s dedication to ensuring rapid and sustained access to innovative treatments reinforces our human health care (hhc) mission to benefit patients and families affected by difficult-to-treat cancers.”