Pharmaceutical firm Novartis said its decision to file for a judicial review of a local primary care trust policy (News 27.04.12) was in part to protect clinicians being pressured to use a product.
Novartis has called for the Southampton, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth (SHIP) PCT Cluster Board to revoke its recent policy on wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Since September 2011, ophthalmologists in the trust have been able to prescribe Avastin (bevacizumab) for AMD patients, which it deemed as cost-effective, under funding by the NHS. This has been in addition to the option of prescribing Novartis' Lucentis (ranibizumab) drug, the only licensed and NICE approved treatment for the condition in the UK.
Novartis told Optician this week: 'Novartis are not attempting to prevent clinicians using bevacizumab should they deem it clinically appropriate for an individual patient. The intention of this action is to protect clinicians from being pressured to use a product, where adequate safety checks have not been undertaken, purely on the basis of cost and ensure that they remain able to prescribe in the best interests of their patients.'
SHIP has taken legal advice following the filing and said it considered that the policy to allow clinicians the choice between Avastin and Lucentis for the NHS AMD patients was lawful.
It said last week: 'If clinicians choose to prescribe Avastin for wet AMD patients the cost savings will result in the PCTs being able to fund other eye-related treatments for NHS patients.'
Novartis has confirmed this week it is the first time it has sought judicial review in relation to the use of unlicensed bevacizumab for wet AMD in the UK, saying the case was specific to the decision taken by the SHIP PCT Cluster Board.
The results of the IVAN Trial, a government-run randomised trial into the efficacy and safety of Avastin and Lucentis, are expected soon, but Novartis plans to proceed with its request for a review regardless of that outcome.
The company added: 'As the results of these studies will not change the unlicensed status of intravitreal bevacizumab, Novartis will not withdraw its decision to seek a judicial review of the SHIP Cluster Board decision on the basis of these data.'