Childhood leukaemia: Novartis immunotherapy drug approved after deal with NHS

The NHS in England has struck a deal with Novartis that will make an immunotherapy drug for leukaemia available to a small number of children.

The agreement, announced on 5 September by Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, came less than 10 days after the drug—Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel)—was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and a week after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) rejected a similar drug from Gilead, Yescarta, on grounds of cost.

The difference was that Novartis was prepared to offer the drug at a price sufficiently discounted to overcome any reluctance, and the market is small— no more than about 15 to 20 children a year with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia who …