Nivolumab available on the NHS from mid-December

Nivolumab is due to be available on the NHS from the mid-December.

NICE has published the final guidance on the use of nivolumab (also known as Opdivo) for advanced kidney cancer which has been used to previously treat Melanoma. This means that nivolumab should be available on the NHS after 30 days of this publication, in Mid-December. If you would like to read more about nivolumab and the appraisal process you can now read the guidance on the NICE website. CLICK HERE TO READ.

The information within the guidance includes details of adverse reactions, recommended dose, price, the drugs it has been compared to and the average increase in survival it provides compared to other 2nd line treatments.

This news applies to patients in England and Wales and nivolumab is currently being appraised by the Northern Ireland Department of Health but unfortunately it was not recommended for use in Scotland by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC). With that in mind, our sister charity Kidney Cancer Scotland is calling for the SMC’s negative decision to be reversed without delay.

According to NICE, 900 patients are expected to be treated with the Bristol Myers Squibb drug each year. We would be very interested to hear more about how people get on taking nivolumab so if you are on the drug, please get in touch by calling, email, via our forum or message us via our Facebook page if you would like share experience.