pemetrexed (Alimta)

Advice

Following a 2nd resubmission

pemetrexed (Alimta) is accepted for restricted use within NHS Scotland in combination with cisplatin for the first line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) other than predominantly squamous cell histology.

It is restricted to patients in whom histology has been confirmed as adenocarcinoma or large cell carcinoma.

In a planned subgroup analysis of a study comparing pemetrexed plus cisplatin with another platinum-based combination regimen, treatment with pemetrexed plus cisplatin resulted in an improvement in median survival in patients with a non-squamous (adenocarcinoma plus large cell carcinoma) histology.