NICE Reveals Concerns Regarding Cost Of Treatment

Calls have been made for NICE to rethink its guidance stating that a new breast cancer drug cannot be made available on the NHS due to its cost.

The organisation has stated that it will no longer be able to make trastuzumab emtansine, produced by Roche, available on the NHS when the Cancer Drugs Fund scheme comes to an end in 2016.

According to the BBC, NICE stated that the decision was based on the £90,000 cost of the treatment and called on Roche to once again review the evidence related to the drug – which is sold under the name of Kadclya – to see if the cost could be cut.

Comment on the decision, Jayson Dallas of Roche Products said the decision meant NICE had “failed to safeguard the interests of patients with this advanced stage of aggressive disease.”

Expert Opinion

The best interests of patients should always come first in any decision made regarding drugs and, with hopes being high regarding the effectiveness of this treatment, it is worrying that access to it may be limited. <br/> <br/>"Through our work on behalf of people taking legal action in order to secure access to treatments, we have seen how emotionally draining it can be for patients and their families to be told that they are unable to benefit from specific drug treatment and in particular life prolonging treatment. We fought and won the legal battle to secure Herceptin treatment on the NHS for breast cancer sufferers. <br/> <br/>"We hope that discussions between Roche and NICE in this case can continue to hopefully reach a resolution which will mean that the people who need treatments on the NHS do not end up missing out." Yogi Amin - Partner