...as ‘game-changing’ tumour drug is blocked in price row
A ROW over drugs pricing has delayed a revolution in cancer treatment that offers hope for thousands of patients.
Health bosses vowed last year to fast track the ‘game-changing’ gene-targeted drugs, each of which treats a range of cancers.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said in June that the advantages of the drugs was ‘potentially huge’ – and pledged that NHS patients would be ‘among the first in the world to benefit’.
But the Health Service watchdog NICE has now issued draft guidance rejecting the first of these drugs – larotrectinib – because at £15,000 a month it costs too much.
Drugs giant Bayer offered a confidential discount but officials said the price had not been lowered far enough.
Larotrectinib, which has been available in the US for more than a year and in Europe since September, is the first of a range of drugs tailored to the genetic make-up of a patient’s tumour.
The treatments are known as ‘tumouragnostic’ or ‘histology-independent’ drugs because they treat a wide range of cancers regardless of where they are in the body.
By comparison, conventional treatment is based on where a tumour originated, such as in the breast, liver or prostate.
The revolutionary approach could help many with rare cancers who are often left with no treatment because drugs have never been trialled for their cancer type.
The new drugs could pave the way for an era of personalised cancer care – and could eventually help a large proportion of the 360,000 people who are diagnosed with cancer in Britain each year.
Because they are based on a patient’s genes and have been trialled across a range of tumours the drugs could work for anyone with a particular genetic mutation, no matter how obscure their cancer.
Larotrectinib, which targets a rare genetic mutation called NTRK-fusion, has been shown to work for thyroid cancer, lung cancer, soft tissue sarcoma and a range of rarer cancers. In early trials, tumours responded in two-thirds to three-quarters of the cancers tested – and in some cases they disappeared altogether.
But the huge flexibility for patients also means it is very hard for NICE officials to work out how cost- effective it would be compared with conventional treatment.
Officials stressed the decision was provisional, and NICE will have more meetings with Bayer to try to reach an agreement.
Spokesman Meindert Boysen said: ‘We’re hopeful that further data collection coupled with responsible pricing from companies will lead to progressive treatments like these being available to patients.’
John Stewart, NHS director of specialised commissioning, said: ‘It is disappointing that Bayer has not been willing to price larotrectinib at a level which represents value for the NHS and the taxpayer. Should they reconsider, the door remains open.’
A Bayer spokesman said the company was ‘disappointed’ by NICE’s decision.