4 September 2015 - New and costly cancer drugs developed to extend the lives of patients are expected to be axed on Friday from an NHS list. Among the drugs NHS England is expected to “de-list” from the Cancer Drugs Fund is Kadcyla, which holds the record as the most expensive cancer drug brought to market, costing £90,000 annually per patient.

Kadcyla, made by Roche, was rejected from general NHS use by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), the body that assesses new medicines for their cost-effectiveness.

Nice agreed the drug was effective for women whose advanced breast cancer no longer responded to Herceptin, but its chief executive, Sir Andrew Dillon, was outspoken about the “unacceptable” price tag. “We had hoped that Roche would have recognised the challenge the NHS faces in managing the adoption of expensive new treatments by reducing the cost of Kadcyla to the NHS,” Dillon said in April 2014.

For more details, go to: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/03/life-extending-cancer-drugs-to-be-axed-by-nhs