NICE rejects Roche’s melanoma combo

Source: Pharma Times, September 2016

Patients in England and Wales with a certain type of advanced skin cancer will not be getting routine access to Roche’s Cotellic/Zelboraf combination on the NHS, after it was turned down by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

The cost watchdog has now published final guidance rejecting use of Cotellic (cobimetinib) with Zelboraf (vemurafenib) for people with advanced BRAF V600 mutation-positive melanoma that has spread and can’t be surgically removed, after concluding that it would not represent a cost-effective use of resources.

Cotellic is an inhibitor of MEK 1 and MEK 2 kinases, while Zelboraf is an inhibitor of the BRAF protein. The BRAF protein and MEK 1 and 2 kinases are part of the same cell signalling pathway, and inhibiting these proteins stops proliferation and survival of melanoma cells.