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Cetuximab in combination with radiotherapy is recommended as a treatment option only for certain patients with locally advanced squamous-cell head and neck cancer (HNC), according to the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
The preliminary recommendation is part of a NICE appraisal consultation document on use of the drug for treating such HNC.
Specifically, the document recommends cetuximab in combination with radiotherapy as a treatment option only for patients with such HNC whose Karnofsky performance-status score is 90% or greater and for whom all forms of platinum-based chemoradiotherapy treatment are contraindicated.
The document also makes the preliminary recommendation that patients currently receiving cetuximab in combination with radiotherapy for treating such cancer and who do not meet the criteria outlined should have the option to continue therapy until they and their clinicians consider it appropriate to stop
The consultation period closes on 4 March 2008.
