Mesothelioma treatment gets NICE tick of approval
15/08/2022

Mesothelioma treatment gets NICE tick of approval

The first new mesothelioma treatment to be approved in nearly 15 years is expected to benefit around 1,000 patients each year. 

The immunotherapy combination nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) has been recommended in NICE’s draft final appraisal document [see here] as a first-line treatment option for untreated, unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma in adults. 

In line with the clinical evidence, patients are to have an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1. The approval committee determined that a 2-year stopping rule for nivolumab plus ipilimumab and a 6-cycle stopping rule for chemotherapy was appropriate

The UK has the highest prevalence of mesothelioma cases in the World, with around 2,700 people diagnosed with the cancer each year – the majority of these were exposed to asbestos prior to the banning of the material in 1999.