NICE rejects Kadcyla for HER-2 positive Breast Cancer - Roche

The The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) charged with reviewing medicines for use by the National Health Service (NHS) issued draft guidance stating it would reject the use of Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine) from Roche, because its benefits did not in its view outweigh its per-patient cost of �90,831 (about $153,000) per course of treatment. The price of Kadcyla was too costly for NHS access given the drug�s extension of life by a median of 5.8 months in trials compared with the current U.K. standard of care, a combination of lapatinib plus capecitabine. A negative NICE appraisal on trastuzumab emtansine will not affect the availability of this drug via the Cancer Drugs Fund. However that Fund is scheduled to run out in 2016.