Posted by Michael Wonder on 06 Jan 2017
Trastuzumab emtansine and cost-based decision making
7 January 2017 - On 29 December 2016, the NICE in the UK invited comments on their draft guidance for use of trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) for advanced or metastatic breast cancer in patients carrying mutations in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (ie, patients who are HER2 positive).
The cost of the drug, manufactured exclusively by Roche, is approximately £90 000 per patient per year, and is currently covered by the Cancer Drugs Fund. The NICE consultation remains open until 20 January, with the recommendation that although there is evidence that trastuzumab is effective, it should not be made available on the National Health Service (NHS) owing to prohibitive cost. NICE states: “the reality is that the price of Kadcyla is currently too high in relation to the benefits it gives for it to be recommended for routine commissioning in the NHS, even taking into account the end-of-life criteria and the patient access scheme.”
