The National Health Service cost regulators for England and Wales have recommended the use of Zytiga in the treatment of men with castrate resistant advanced prostate cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published a final guidance endorsing Zytiga as an NHS treatment option for men with advanced, metastatic, castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRP) in England and Wales if their disease has progressed despite having received a docetaxel-containing chemotherapy regimen (chemotherapy failure).

Zytiga has been available in the United States for less than one year and has been a successful and welcomed addition to treatment protocols since it became available.

Zytiga is a treatment that will now be available for men with dwindling treatment options. It has a relatively low side effect profile when compared to chemotherapy and is taken in a pill form in a man’s own home.

News of Zytiga’s acceptance by NICE is warmly greeted given that earlier it had been rejected due to a decision to reject the drug on grounds that it failed to hit cost-effectiveness targets.

The list price of Zytiga is £2,930 for a 30-day supply of 120 tablets, and its cost per QALY (quality adjusted life year) was judged to fall under £50,000 including the NHS discount.

Joel T Nowak, M.A., M.S.W.