
UK Knocks Down Yescarta as CAR T Therapy Gains European Authorization
Only 1 day after the European Commission approved CAR T-cell therapies, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence deemed the treatment too expensive to justify on Britain's state-funded health service.
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel, sold as Yescarta, was
The Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) was approved based on data from the ZUMA-1 trial that investigated axicabtagene ciloleucel in adult patents with refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In the single-arm trial that enrolled 101 participants, 72% of patients (n = 73) who received a single infusion of axicabtagene ciloleucel responded to therapy, with 51% ( n = 52) achieving a complete response.
There are currently 2 CAR T-cell therapies available on the market, and although both treatments have many benefits, they come at a steep price. Yescarta carries a US
Just 1 day after the EC approved the treatments, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
The developer of Yescarta, Kite Pharma, a subsidiary of Gilead, said in a statement that it was in “ongoing discussions with NICE to identify appropriate treatment comparators which can clarify how cell therapy may be made available to patients in the UK.” NICE’s evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of Kymriah is still ongoing.
Kymriah was the first CAR T-cell therapy
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