Another new cancer drug from Roche, this time for treating leukaemia, has been rejected by Britain's healthcare cost-effectiveness agency NICE on the grounds that data about its value is uncertain.

In August the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) rejected the Swiss drugmaker's drug Kadcyla for an aggressive form of breast cancer. Roche had proposed a discount for that drug, which carries a full list price of more than 90,000 pounds for a course of treatment.

Friday's decision promises to further sour relations between NICE and the world's biggest maker of cancer drugs, which two months ago said NICE was "not fit for purpose".

The panel decides which treatments are worth using in the state-run National Health Service (NHS) and its latest preliminary guidance covers obinutuzumab, marketed by Roche as Gazyvaro, for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

"Although obinutuzumab is a clinically effective treatment, there were too many uncertainties in the company's submission and we cannot be confident that it is an effective use of NHS resources," said NICE's chief executive, Andrew Dillon.

For more details, go to: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/02/roche-britain-idUSL6N0RX1PB20141002