The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that Tecentriq in combination with carboplatin and etoposide should not be made available for untreated extensive-stage Small Cell Lung Cancer in adults.- Genentech/Roche

In draft guidance, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that Tecentriq (atezolizumab) in combination with carboplatin and etoposide should not be made available for untreated extensive-stage Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) in adults. The guidance notes that clinical data show that Tecentriq plus chemotherapy “could help people to live longer without their disease progressing, and to live for longer compared with chemotherapy alone”. However there is “uncertainty” about how much longer patients live after receiving treatment with the Tecentriq combination and also that “the cost-effectiveness estimates for atezolizumab with chemotherapy are higher than what is considered a cost-effective use of NHS resources”. NICE also states that Tecentriq should not be made available for SCLC via the Cancer Drugs Fund – which provides contingency route for patient access to drugs while new evidence is being generated – although NICE notes that Roche “did not express an interest in the treatment being considered for funding” via the CDF.