NICE defensive about Velcade decision

The discrepancy between the availability of drugs across the UK has erupted into a row, following the decision of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the government's regulatory body charged with evaluating treatment effectiveness in England and Wales, to oppose the provision of Velcade (bortezomib) by the National Health Service for the treatment of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

The decision contradicts that of the Scottish Medicines Consortium, which fulfills the NICE's functions in Scotland. The NICE's draft guidance found that, although Velcade, made by the USA's Millennium Pharmaceuticals, is more clinically effective than chemotherapy, it is more costly, with a price range of L9,000-L18,000 ($16,847-$33,694) per treatment course. David Fisher, speaking for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said: "it is arrant nonsense that a medicine should be judged to be cost-effective in Dumfries and not in Carlisle."