Regulator to reject ovarian cancer treatment approve Trabectedin (Yondelis)

18th June 2010 - The health regulator, "The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), says a new treatment for ovarian cancer is not recommended for the NHS because the manufacturer did not submit sufficient evidence that the medication benefits patients more than the most widely-used treatments.

NICE is appraising trabectedin (Yondelis) in combination with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLDH) for the treatment of relapsed ovarian cancer that is sensitive to platinum-based therapies.

Its independent advisory found that the evidence submitted by the manufacturer was not robust because it did not compare trabectedin against a current ‘gold-standard’ treatment for relapsed ovarian cancer: paclitaxel in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy. This meant NICE couldn’t confirm whether or not the treatment extends patients’ lives for longer than one of the more effective and commonly-used treatments...."