Pfizer will make its ground-breaking breast cancer drug available to thousands of NHS patients across the UK for free, as it awaits the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's final decision on paying.
Nice provisionally rejected palbociclib in February, saying it was too expensive for the benefits it provided. Now, the drugmaker has said it will provide the drug free of charge for up to five months until Nice's final decision -- and women who are offered the drug for free during the interim period will not be taken off it if it is rejected for NHS use, and they will not have to start paying.
In the U.S., Ibrance is the first CDK 4/6 inhibitor approved by the FDA. The treatment was granted accelerated approval in combination with letrozole in February 2015 and regular approval in February 2016 for a second indication: the treatment of HR+, HER2- advanced or metastatic breast cancer in combination with fulvestrant in women with disease progression following endocrine therapy.
Read the UK's Independent article