What has NICE said?

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is recommended. This drug is a possible treatment for adults with melanoma that:

  • can't be completely removed by surgery or has spread to other parts of the body

  • has been treated with ipilimumab (melanoma that is BRAF V600 mutation-positive must also have had treatment with vemurafenib, dabrafenib, or trametinib).

What does this mean for me?

If you have advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma and your doctor thinks that pembrolizumab is the right treatment, you should be able to have the treatment on the NHS.

Pembrolizumab should be available on the NHS within 3 months of the guidance being issued. Because pembrolizumab was made available in the NHS through the 'early access to medicines' scheme, NHS England has indicated that it will be available on the NHS 30 days after the guidance is issued.

  • Information Standard