NICE Recommends AstraZeneca’s Osimertinib for Limited Use in UK’s Cancer Drugs Fund

The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso (osimertinib) for lung cancer — but only for use in the Cancer Drugs Fund.

NICE, which assesses new treatments and decides whether the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) will cover them, has recommended osimertinib specifically as an adjuvant treatment for nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after complete tumor resection in adults accessing treatments via the limited cancer drugs program.

NICE said it recommends the drug because there are currently no targeted adjuvant treatments available in England for NSCLC after complete tumor resection. Early data, said NICE, showed osimertinib reduces the risk of the disease coming back and may lower the risk of death.