UK: NICE Determines Cost Trumps Benefit For New Melanoma Drug
Draft guidance issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on 15 June 2012 does not recommend the use of Roche's new melanoma drug, vemurafinib, by the National Health Service (NHS).
"Vemurafenib is an expensive drug and its long term benefits are difficult to quantify," Sir Andrew Dillon, Chief Executive of NICE said.
The data submitted by Roche, which compared vemurafenib to the current standard treatment using dacarbazine, showed verurafenib was effective for patients with melanoma with the BRAF V600 mutation.
However, the longer-tem effect on survival was uncertain because many of the patients taking dacarbazine were moved onto other treatments such as vemurafenib or ipilimumab when their disease progressed, making comparison difficult.
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