Scotland Turns Down Kymriah Over Cost-Effectiveness

The Scottish Medicines Consortium decided not to recommend Novartis’ Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) for NHS Scotland patients, questioning the drug’s cost effectiveness and long-term benefits.

The CAR-T therapy is indicated for adult patients with diffuse B cell lymphoma who haven’t relapsed or have not responded to two previous lines of treatment. Kymriah reprograms a patient’s cells to bind to and eradicate CD19 expressing cells.

“After careful consideration, SMC decided the evidence from the company was not strong enough to be certain that tisagenlecleucel offers value for money to NHS Scotland,” the consortium said. “This was despite applying extra flexibility as tisagenlecleucel is a medicine for a very rare, end of life condition.”