A new pill to treat advanced hormone sensitive prostate cancer that could benefit just over 40,000 people has been recommended by NICE in final draft guidance.
Relugolix, also known as Orgovyx and made by Accord, is the first oral treatment of its kind to be approved by NICE.
It is an androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) but unlike other hormone treatments, which are given by injection, Relugolix is taken as a tablet, allowing people the option to take it at home.
Prostate cancer cells usually require androgen (male) hormones, such as testosterone, to grow. ADT reduces the levels of androgen hormones, with drugs or surgery, to prevent the prostate cancer cells from growing.
Relugolix lowers levels of testosterone by blocking the production of the hormone in the testes.
ADT can be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular complications, including heart attacks and heart failure.
Clinical trial evidence suggests Relugolix is better at reducing testosterone to levels that stop cancer growth in the longer term than leuprolide and reduces the risk of serious cardiovascular events, compared with leuprolide. An indirect treatment comparison suggests relugolix works as well as other ADTs.
NICE medicines evaluation director Helen Knight said: “We are continuing to focus on what matters most to people by recommending this innovative and effective treatment that can make a positive difference to people with advanced prostate cancer.
“Relugolix provides a convenient and flexible treatment option compared with therapies that need to be injected, helping people to avoid travel and time off work and the evidence shows it can improve people’s quality of life.”
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK and there were around 51,000 new cases diagnosed in England in 2022.
People with high-risk localised or locally advanced hormone-sensitive prostate cancer are normally offered ADT, surgery, or radiotherapy.
