Take-at-home tablet approved for lymphoma on NHS in England
United Kingdom
A take-at-home tablet, zanubrutinib, is now available on the NHS in England for those with a type of blood cancer called marginal zone lymphoma. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved the blood cancer drug for use on the NHS in England at the beginning of August.
Zanubrutinib is the first ever treatment specifically licensed for this form of blood cancer and could limit its progression and provide an alternative to further rounds of chemotherapy.
Around 2,600 people are diagnosed every year in the UK are diagnosed with marginal zone lymphoma. For people with this rare type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, marginal zone lymphoma develops when there is uncontrollable growth in B-cells, a type of white blood cell.
It’s a positive step forward as some people with blood cancer have a disease that can become resistant to other less targeted treatments, like chemotherapy
- Rincy George, Blood Cancer UK's Policy Officer
According to NICE, the NHS estimates that around 500 people with blood cancer are set to benefit from this drug over the next three years.
The pharmaceutical company BeiGene manufactured zanubrutinib (Brukinsa®), which will be available to those in England who have not responded well to previous treatment and can be taken either as once or twice a day capsules at home. The drug is currently going through the regulatory process in Scotland.
This is the first targeted treatment to be licensed for this form of blood cancer.
- Blood Cancer UK's Rincy George
Rincy George, said:
"People with marginal zone lymphoma are typically diagnosed in their 70s, and this is a tablet that can be taken at home, potentially reducing the number of hospital visits that would otherwise be made. This approval is an important step in our mission to ensure no one dies from blood cancer or the effects of its treatments."