England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has rejected Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in patients who receive locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who have had platinum-containing chemotherapy.
Merck sponsors Keytruda.
The drug has since been removed from the Cancer Drug Fund, where it was available previously.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said it couldn’t recommend the drug because of cost-effectiveness.
The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has devastated the Ukrainian healthcare infrastructure, disrupting cancer care, halting clinical trials, and compounding long-standing systemic challenges. Even before the war, Ukraine’s oncology system faced major constraints: Limited access to radiotherapy equipment, outdated chemotherapy supply chains, and workforce shortages. The invasion intensified these issues—cancer hospitals were damaged, warehouses destroyed,...
