NICE Prevents Use of Zytiga Prior to Chemotherapy

Johnson & Johnson

Britain's healthcare cost-effectiveness agency NICE said on Wednesday that a prostate cancer drug, originally invented in Britain, was not worth giving to patients who have yet to receive chemotherapy.

Although Zytiga, or abiraterone, is already cleared for use in some men after chemotherapy, a green light for its earlier use would allow many more patients to access the oral medicine.

"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," Andrew Dillon, chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), said in a statement.

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Source: Reuters