UK "No" for another cancer drug

The UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has refused to allow patients access under the National Health Service to Swiss pharmaceutical major Roche's oncology therapy Tarceva (erlotinib) for the second-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. The drugmaker announced its intention to appeal the decision, which took almost two years.

Nick Thatcher, professor of medical oncology at Christie Hospital, Manchester, said: "as a clinician, I am particularly disappointed in this ruling. [The] NICE has undervalued the benefits to a patient and, in doing so, has undermined lung cancer specialists' ability to do what's best for those in our care. Denying a treatment with less serious side effects than intravenous chemotherapy, that can be taken at home, is at odds with the Cancer Reform Strategy's promises to patients."