NICE has come under attack following its decision not to recommend bowel cancer drug Avastin.
Manufacturer Roche and Bowel Cancer UK both questioned the decision after tests showed an increased survival rate of almost two years.
Critics argued the decision would see the UK fall ‘even further behind’ other countries for cancer treatment and hoped the new Interim Drugs Fund would finally bring widespread access to patients.
NICE’s independent Appraisal Committee considered the treatment too expensive and questioned Roche’s calculations on a proposed Patient Access Scheme.
The UK is now one of a handful of developed countries that don’t provide Avastin to patients. Roche said the decision was ‘further evidence’ the current system was not appropriate after the cost-effectiveness and not clinical effectiveness of the drug contributed to the outcome of the appraisal.
“The recent International Variations Report has shown that patients in the UK have significantly poorer access to cancer medicines when compared to their European counterparts,” a statement from the pharma company said.
“The launch of the Interim Cancer Drugs fund will help address this ‘passport prescribing’ situation in the short term and is further recognition that the current drug evaluation process disadvantages end of life cancer medicines.”
Roche also highlighted how NICE has failed to recommend more than half of cancer drugs since January 2007 and hoped to see a ‘pricing and reimbursement system in the longer term that may be more mindful to the challenges of evaluating end of life therapies’.
Bowel Cancer UK revealed its disappointment at NICE’s decision, claiming the effectiveness of Avastin far outweighed its cost.
“I know that NICE has to be rigorous in its appraisal of treatments and that it looks in detail at individual drug trials to assess cost-effectiveness,” said Rob Glynne Jones, Chief Medical Adviser of the charity.
“However, as a practicing oncologist, if we simply look at survival in the UK, I can see that in even the most up-to-date national drug trials, such as COIN, patients with advanced bowel cancer have an average 19 months’ survival. This compares to up to 27 months’ survival for patients in countries that use bevacizumab (Avastin), such as in mainland Europe and the United States.
“I can’t argue with NICE’s decision, but I am disappointed. These statistics tell their own story and imply that we are likely to fall even further behind in worldwide league tables.”
It is estimated that around 6,500 patients a year in the UK could benefit from Avastin. The drug is currently used in the US and across Europe, but patients in the UK have to purchase the treatment privately or appeal to their local health authority for funding.
