Commenting on today’s rejection by NICE of enzalutamide for advanced prostate cancer before chemotherapy, Chief Executive Rowena Bartlett said:

“For the thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer, this preliminary decision will be distressing. We believe that these men have the right to benefit from a treatment that can offer them a better quality of life, and for longer.”

Enzalutamide is the first in a new class of medicines known as androgen receptor inhibitors. Prostate cancer relies on testosterone to grow, so this drug has been designed to bind to the receptors on prostate cancer cells that normally interact with testosterone, and block this interaction.