Multiple myeloma patients in England and Wales will now be able to receive Revlimid (lenalidomide) as a treatment option under the National Health System (NHS) after an agreement was reached between NHS and Celgene, the maker of Revlimid.

The news comes after Celgene proposed a new cost-sharing plan where the NHS will pay for the first two years of treatment, and Celgene will pick up the bill for any further treatment. It is estimated that approximately 17 percent of myeloma patients treated with Revlimid will require treatment after two years. …

The health care system in the United Kingdom is making more treatment options available to terminally ill patients.

In England and Wales, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) decides which treatments will be made available under the state-funded National Health Service.  Until recently, NICE refused to approve the use of any drug costing more than £30,000 ($44,000) for each extra year of good health attributable to the drug.

On January 2, NICE issued new guidelines to approve, under certain circumstances, life-extending drugs that cost as much as £80,000 ($118,000) …

The health care system in England and Wales may soon stop funding the use of the drug Revlimid (lenalidomide) to treat multiple myeloma.

The agency responsible for controlling health care costs in those countries has issued a preliminary ruling that treating myeloma with Revlimid is not cost effective.

The agency – the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) – admits that the drug is clinically effective. The once-a-day capsule has been shown to extend the lives of myeloma patients by nearly three years. As …