Janssen receives NICE recommendation for Zytiga

Janssen has been granted a recommendation from the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for its prostate cancer therapy Zytiga.

The regulator has published final guidance recommending the drug for use in combination with prednisone or prednisolone for the treatment of castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer that has progressed after one docetaxel-containing therapy.

NICE had previously been against recommending the therapy due to issues regarding its cost, but chose to reverse this decision based on further data supplied by Janssen on its potential benefits.

The drug was discovered and developed by the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden hospital in London.

Martin Price, external affairs director at Janssen UK, said: "Janssen has gone to significant lengths to find a solution that allows eligible patients to be treated with this innovative UK-discovered medicine routinely on the NHS."

This comes after the firm received a NICE recommendation for its chronic hepatitis C therapy Incivo last month.