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Provenge On Its Way to Gain Approval in Germany
Dendreon's prostate cancer immunotherapy Provenge is now being backed by IQWiG just months after the German health technology assessor was poised to reject the treatment.
Provenge (sipuleucel-T) was approved in Europe in 2013 for men with metastatic prostate cancer who have few or no symptoms and do not yet require chemotherapy.
The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) had already assessed the drug, saying in January this year that it had “no added benefit” when compared to similar treatments. But since then Dendreon has submitted more data to make the case for the cost-effectiveness of its drug, which showed it could increase overall survival in some patients.
With the new data sets, IQWiG now believes that there is added benefit with Provenge compared to other medicines, but the extent is “non-quantifiable,” according to the Institute.
Link to the report on PMLiVE:
