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Outdated System Preventing Breast Cancer Patients Getting Access To Early Treatment In England, Says Roche

 
• By Lucie Ellis-Taitt

Roche Pharma AG has been scorned once again by the England's health technology appraisal body NICE – with the pricing group this time rejecting the big pharma's breast cancer treatment Perjeta (pertuzumab) for regular use on the NHS as a neoadjuvant therapy.

In a May 20 draft guidance, NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) said it was not recommending Perjeta, in combination with Herceptin (trastuzumab) and chemotherapy, as a neoadjuvant (pre-surgery) treatment on the NHS for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer. The committee stated a number of reasons for its decision, including an unsubstantial data package from Roche; concerns around the use of pathological complete response as a substitute for overall survival outcomes; and the treatment not being a cost-effective use of funds.

NICE also had issues with Roche's pricing models for Perjeta in this indication, which used England's Cancer Drugs Fund as a solution to the NHS's affordability of Perjeta. NICE said...

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