NICE rebuffs Revolade

The U.K.'s NICE issued a preliminary appraisal recommending against the use of Revolade eltrombopag from GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK) in its approved indications -- to treat chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in splenectomized patients who are refractory to other treatments and as a second-line treatment of non-splenectomized patients for whom surgery is contraindicated. The closing date for comments is July 1.

NICE expressed concern with GSK's base-case estimates of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) of L77,500 ($111,961) and L90,500 ($130,742) per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) for the splenectomized and non-splenectomized populations, respectively. The agency said the ICERs were underestimates and concluded that Revolade is not an effective use of NHS resources. It is generally accepted that a technology must have an incremental cost less than or equal to L20,000-L30,000 per QALY for the agency to consider it cost-effective. ...