NICE views breast cancer drugs from GSK and Roche too expensive

The UK drug watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published draft guidance today which proposes to advise the National Health Service that lapatinib or trastuzumab with aromatase inhibitors should not be prescribed for a particular type and stage of breast cancer. This is because the extent to which they can improve overall survival compared to existing treatments is uncertain and so they do not appear to represent value for money for the NHS.

The NICE is currently developing guidance for the NHS whether or not it should offer GlaxoSmithKline’s (LSE: GSK) Tyverb (lapatinib) or Roche’s (ROG: SIX) Herceptin (trastuzumab) specifically as first line treatment options to delay the growth of advanced breast cancer that has already spread to other parts of the body, and whose tumour cells both react with the hormones oestrogen or progesterone and have high levels of a protein called HER2 on their surface. The guidance will only advise on the use of these drugs alongside aromatase inhibitors (a type of hormone therapy).

This second consultation draft comes after Roche’s appeal against some of the committee’s initial findings was upheld, and the committee subsequently discussed the points again at a further meeting in January 2012.