UK cancer charity slams NICE methods

Cancer Research UK, the largest research charity in UK to be funded from private donations, has blasted the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) over the methodology used to review, and often reject, treatments for National Health Service patients outside Scotland. Four kidney cancer drugs have been rejected by the NICE, citing cost, despite their clinical effectiveness and the lack of viable alternatives, the cancer charity argues.

The four affected products are: 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 have been rejected is metastatic renal cell carcinoma, a rare form of kidney cancer, with limited clinical data on best practice. Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, said: "this decision once again raises questions about whether [the] NICE's system of appraisal is appropriate for all types of drugs."

John Wagstaff, a professor and consultant in medical oncology at South Wales Cancer Institute, Wales, said: "the possibility that we clinicians may be prevented from offering sunitinib to our patients is an outrage and a devastating blow to the kidney cancer community." The NICE's preliminary guidance on the four drugs is not final and the agency is taking public comments. However, Pfizer noted that only one third of NHS trusts will make Sutent available to patients before the NICE gives a verdict.