The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published final draft guidance recommending Rozlytrek (entrectinib) as a treatment option for ROS1-positive, advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which has not previously been treated with ROS1 inhibitors.

The drug is produced by Roche, which presented data to NICE from three clinical trials, demonstrating that treatment with entrectinib is effective at shrinking NSCLC tumours and slowing overall disease progression of the disease (median of 16.8 months progression-free with entrectinib), including in patients who have developed brain tumours.

Additionally, entrectinib has met NICE’s criteria to be considered a life-extending, end-of-life treatment. According to the institute, evidence suggests that the treatment could be expected to extend life by more than three months when compared to pemetrexed with platinum chemotherapy, which is a common treatment for NSCLC.

Entrectinib is taken orally, once daily throughout the course of treatment. It is estimated that this treatment will be made available to around 412 people in England who have NSCLC.  

NICE also recommends crizotinib for this same indication for use on the Cancer Drugs Fund.