AstraZeneca chief 'disappointed' at NICE decision

The decision of the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to not initially recommend Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca’s (LSE: AZN) Lynparza (olaparib) has sparked a backlash from the company’s chief executive Pascal Soriot.

In the UK’s Financial Times, Mr Soriot expressed his disappointment at the decision and told the paper: “How can a government say they want this country to be an innovation center with a strong focus on life sciences and yet when we discover new innovation it doesn’t find a market?”

NICE said on Monday that the evidence provided shows that the price that the National Health Service (NHS) is being asked to pay for olaparib is too high for the benefit it may provide to patients, so the preliminary guidance does not recommend it. The decision was questioned as ‘hard to understand’ by Cancer Research UK while Paul Workman, chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, called for reform.