Dive Brief:
- Amgen launched its multiple myeloma drug Kyprolis in the UK, which the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had approved back in November 2015. Kyprolis (carflizomib) is approved for use in combination with other oncologic therapies to treat relapsed or multiple myeloma.
- In the ASPIRE trial, patients treated with Kyprolis in combination with two other drugs showed progression-free survival (PFS) of 26.3 months, compared to 17.6 months for patients treated with the other drugs alone.
- The drug is the first approved irreversible proteasome inhibitor for the treatment of multiple myeloma.
Dive Insight:
Although Kyprolis has been approved in the U.K., Amgen will still have to present its case to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which oversees reimbursement.
In addition to using the ASPIRE data, Amgen will also rely on data from the ENDEAVOR trial. Based on the results of that pivotal study, patients treated with a combination of Kyprolis and dexamethasone had 50% increased PFS, compared with patients treated with Velcade (bortezomib) and dexamethasone.