National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
Printable version

NICE recommends another revolutionary CAR T-cell therapy for adults with lymphoma

Adults with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) will be able to access another revolutionary chimeric antigen receptor T-Cell (CAR T-cell) therapy through the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Tisagenlecleucel, also known as Kymriah and made by Novartis, is recommended for adults with relapsed or refractory DLBCL. It will be offered to people whose disease has not responded or those whose disease has relapsed after treatment with two or more courses of chemotherapy.

Lymphomas are cancers of the lymphatic system which is part of the immune system. There were 11,690 new cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in England in 2015 with 4,688 of these being diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Meindert Boysen, director of the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation at NICE said: “Recommending another revolutionary CAR T-cell therapy for adults with lymphoma represents a step forward for personalised medicine. We are pleased that patients are set to benefit from such an innovative therapy so rapidly because of joint working between NICE, NHS England and the company.

“CAR T-cell therapy is expensive, however the treatment is specific to each individual and could be a potential cure for some, although it is early days. Our recommendation for tisagenlecleucel on the Cancer Drugs Fund means people can benefit while more data is collected.”

CAR T-cell therapies are specifically manufactured for each individual patient. This involves taking some of the patient’s own white blood cells which are then reengineered in a laboratory so they can recognise and attack cancer cells before being infused back into the patient.

Channel website: https://www.nice.org.uk/

Original article link: https://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/nice-recommends-another-revolutionary-car-t-cell-therapy-for-adults-with-lymphoma

Share this article

Latest News from
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)

Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story