New losers in U.K.’s zero sum game
Britain’s willingness to pay for life-extending innovative medicines through its National Health Service once again came into question last week after the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued draft guidance recommending against the use of Avastin bevacizumab from Roche, Nexavar sorafenib from Bayer AG, Sutent sunitinib from Pfizer Inc., or Torisel temsirolimus from Wyeth to treat advanced and/or metastatic renal cell cancer (RCC).
All four drugs are available and fully reimbursed in other major European markets, while all except Avastin have been approved by FDA to treat advanced RCC patients. In the U.S., the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines on kidney cancer recommend all four as first-line therapy for relapsed or unresectable Stage IV disease...