NICE Recommends Merck’s Keytruda for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in combination with chemotherapy (paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel) for National Health Service use in patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

NICE had previously declined to recommend the combination for this patient population back in March, citing its priciness as a significant factor. The institute has reversed its stance, voicing support for the Keytruda combo as an alternative for patients who cannot receive Roche’s Tecentriq (atezolizumab)-chemo combo, which NICE also recommends.

The Keytruda combination is restricted to patients with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression with a combined positive score equal to or greater than 10 and immune cell staining less than one percent. At the same time, NICE recommends the Tecentriq combination for patients with immune cell staining equal to or greater than one percent.

According to NICE, Keytruda’s list price is $3,317 per 100 mg infusion vial. The discounted NHS price was not disclosed.