On 1 August 2024, Navlin Daily reported that Brazil’s National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies into the Unified Health System (CONITEC) recommended against incorporating rituximab monotherapy in Brazil’s national health system for treating asymptomatic follicular lymphoma (FL).
Rituximab is marketed in Brazil by Roche under the brand name MabThera. Available biosimilars include Pfizer’s Ruxience® and Celltrion’s Truxima®.
Therapeutic options available in Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS) for FL vary depending on the tumour’s classification. CONITEC’s latest assessment regards initial phase classifications (stages I and II) and one advanced phase (stage IIIA).
CONITEC’s view is that scientific evidence regarding the benefit of rituximab is limited and that there is no consensus among experts in the field regarding the treatment of the disease in the asymptomatic phase. On this basis, CONITEC recommended against incorporating in the SUS rituximab as monotherapy for patients with asymptomatic FL, regardless of initial stage.