NICE backs limited use of prostate cancer drug

The NHS's health technology assessment body the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended the use of Astellas Pharma's prostate cancer drug enzalutamide (Xtandi).

The recommendation for NHS purchasing is only in hormone-relapsed metastatic prostate cancer patients during or after a docetaxel-containing chemotherapy - and the drug has not been recommended for use in patients who have had previous treatment with abiraterone (Janssen's Zytiga).

The draft guidance has been issued for consultation.

"There are few treatments available for patients at this stage of prostate cancer so we are very pleased that we are able to produce draft guidance recommending enzalutamide.

"It is an effective treatment and it also allows patients to be treated at home as it can be taken orally."

Professor Carole Longson, director, centre for health technology evaluation, NICE.