UK's NICE rejects cancer drug, ponders Herceptin

The UK's regulatory body charged with evaluating treatment effectiveness in England and Wales, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), in a draft appraisal, has rejected the use by the National Health Service of Velcade (bortezomib), a treatment for myeloma developed by Millennium, a USA-headquarted specialty drugmaker. The drug, which costs about L18,000 ($33,600) per patient, is approved in Scotland and Northern Ireland for NHS patients and remains available in England and Wales until the NICE's final recommendation.

In other news, a final decision on Roche's breast cancer treatment Herceptin (trastuzumab) is expected from the NICE by the end of the month, following an appeal by the Newbury & Community Primary Care Trust against the agency's approval in June (Marketletters passim).