NICE FAD decision

Friday, November 25, 2011

Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE said: "We have already recommended six treatments for various stages of colorectal cancer and are disappointed not to be able to add these three drugs, cetuximab, bevacizumab and panitumumab to the list of treatments for this stage of the disease.

"However, we have to be confident that the benefits that drugs offer patients really do justify what the NHS will have to pay for them. The independent appraisal committee which drafted the recommendations does not feel it has enough evidence, especially in the case of bevacizumab, to feel confident in recommending these drugs for use on the NHS."

NICE first rejected Erbitux and Avastin for colorectal cancer in January 2007, and the watchdog's new review says the drugs are still not sufficiently cost-effective.

None of the treatments met the criteria to be considered under NICE's special arrangements for drugs to help people facing the end of their lives.

The draft guidance is now with consultees, who have the opportunity to appeal against it. Until NICE issues final guidance, NHS bodies should make decisions locally on the funding of specific treatments.

None of these treatments have been approved for second line use of metastatic colorectal cancer in Scotland.

Patients in England now have a means of overcoming NICE's no on cancer drugs, however. The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), first set up in October 2010, allows cancer patients in England to receive drugs either not yet appraised by NICE or already rejected.

Figures show that Avastin is one of the drugs most frequently funded through the regional committees, which are allocated a share of the £600 million annual fund.

Between October 2010 and March 2011, a total of 1,040 funding requests for Avastin were approved in England through the CDF.