Sutent available in England, not Scotland

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which reviews treatments for National Health Service patients outside  Scotland, has changed its mind about one of four kidney cancer drugs  that had previously been turned down (Marketletter August 11, 2008).  Because the Scottish Medicines Consortium issued its own negative  appraisal in July 2007, the latest move puts NHS patients in England  are in the unusual position of having access to a therapy that is  denied in Scotland. Andrew Dillon, the NICE's chief executive, said:  "many people have made the point very strongly that they regard the  ability of the NHS to extend life as being of special importance."

The four affected products from the NICE's original appraisal  consultation document were: Swiss drug major Roche's Avastin  (bevacizumab); Nexavar (sorafenib), originated by the USA's Onyx  Pharmaceuticals and licensed to German drugmaker Bayer HealthCare;  world pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's Sutent (sunitinib); and US drug  major Wyeth's Torisel (temsirolimus). The condition for which they were  rejected is metastatic renal cell carcinoma, a rare form of kidney  cancer.