UK’s NICE Advises Against NHS Use of Lynparza for Prostate Cancer

AstraZeneca’s drug Lynparza was rejected in a draft guidance by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a treatment for prostate cancer for use by the National Health Service.

Lynparza is aimed at adults whose BRCA-positive prostate cancer has progressed after use of the hormone-based chemotherapy drug abiraterone or treatment with the nonsteroidal antiandrogen enzalutamide.

Though clinical trial evidence showed that study subjects taking Lynparza had improved progression-free survival and overall survival, NICE said that there is no direct comparison of Lynparza to the current standard of care for metastatic prostate cancer, which includes chemotherapy drugs docetaxel, cabazitaxel or the radiation drug radium-223.

The draft guidance is open for comment until March 26, after which NICE will make its final recommendation.