Hundreds of women with hard-to-treat ovarian cancer are to be offered a new targeted therapy on the National Health Service (NHS), after health regulators approved the first treatment of its kind in more than two decades.
According to the NHS, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said mirvetuximab soravtansine can be used for patients with certain forms of ovarian, fallopian tube or peritoneal cancer that have returned after previous treatment.
NHS added that the decision is the first new option for this group since the early 2000s and that the approval is a "landmark" step.
It said a great proportion of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed at a late stage, when tumours are more difficult to manage and treatment options have been limited.
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Developed by AbbVie, NHS insisted mirvetuximab soravtansine is a type of antibody-drug conjugate.
Mirvetuximab soravtansine, it said, works by attaching to a protein found on cancer cells and delivering chemotherapy directly to them.
These, the institute disclosed, therapies are sometimes called "biological missile" or "Trojan horse treatments."
Clinical trial data showed patients receiving the drug through a drip every three weeks lived around four months longer on average compared with those given chemotherapy alone.
Victoria Clare, chief executive of ovarian cancer charity Ovacome, welcomed the move.
"Today marks a landmark moment. This recommendation is the first in over 20 years to offer the ovarian cancer community an additional choice at a critical stage, with the potential to make a real difference to patients and their families," Clare said.
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