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 Kadcyla, which can prolong the lives of some women with advanced
disease, has been a battle-ground for campaigners wanting better
access to modern cancer drugs, with 115,000 people signing a
petition demanding its availability.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said on
Thursday it could now recommend funding for Kadcyla, following the
new commercial access arrangement with Roche. Details of the
discount offer were not disclosed.
"Today’s announcement on Kadcyla shows that for companies who are
willing to work with us, there are concrete gains for them, for the
NHS and most importantly for patients able to get new and innovative
drugs," said NHS England chief Simon Stevens.
At its full list price, Kadcyla costs about 90,000 pounds ($115,000)
per patient, according to NICE, although Roche says this figure is
exaggerated because the drug is typically given for shorter periods
than NICE assumes.
Until now, the drug has only been covered by the Cancer Drugs Fund,
which finances drugs not routinely paid for on the NHS. With the
medicine moving to routine use, around 1,200 women could now be
eligible to receive it.
Roche, the world's biggest supplier of cancer medicines, has
expressed frustration in the past at the rigid system used in
Britain to determine value for money in cancer care, with CEO
Severin Schwan describing the system as "stupid" in 2015.
The company's UK general manager Richard Erwin welcomed the new deal
as a "positive" development on Thursday.
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Industry critics, however, argue that medicine prices are rising far
faster than inflation, especially in cancer treatment, and returns
demanded by the industry on newly launched products are
unsustainable.
Kadcyla is designed for women with so-called HER2 positive breast
cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, cannot be
surgically removed and has stopped responding to initial treatment.
The medicine combines Herceptin with a tumour-killing drug that is
carried directly into cancer cells, causing fewer cases of common
chemotherapy side effects like hair loss.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Adrian Croft and Mark
Potter)
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