This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Breast cancer drug set to be withdrawn
Terminal breast cancer patients have called out the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) after the advisory body said it would be removing a life-extending drug which had been available on the NHS.
The news comes as NICE is reviewing drugs made available through the former cancer drugs fund and has rejected Kadcyla for use on the NHS in England.
According to NICE, the price per patient set by manufacturer Roche - £90,000, is too expensive.
In clinical trials, Kadcyla was shown to extend terminal breast cancer patients' lives by an average of six months, and to dramatically improve quality of life when compared with other
treatments.
The drug is used to treat women with HER2-positive breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and cannot be surgically removed.
However, many doctors have warned that the withdrawal of the drug will not only come at the expense of survival for patients but would mean patients would have to turn to other alternative drugs which have greater side-effect than Kadcyla.
Carole Longson, of NICE, assured that the watchdog ‘knows how important it is for people with breast cancer that they have access to life-extending treatments, but the reality is the cost of this drug is too high relative to those benefits for it to be recommended for routine use’.
A NICE spokesperson added: "NICE would like to be able to support the routine use of Kadcyla on the NHS and we are open to an approach from Roche with ideas about how they can make this happen.
"They have been in touch with us and we are arranging a further meeting with them, during the consultation period."
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