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Thursday, November 19, 2009

UK Health Unit Rejects Bayer Drug As Too Expensive

By Robert Daniel

MarketWatch Pulse

TEL AVIV -- UK health-care regulators are declining to pay for an advanced-liver-cancer drug because it's too expensive relative to its benefits, media reports say. The UK Telegraph reported that 600 to 700 patients a year would be eligible for Nexavar; Reuters said the drug would cost the National Health Service almost $4900 a month per patient. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said that the drug, generically sorafenib, increases life expectancy by too small a period to justify the cost, media reports said. Reuters reported that the drug extends patients' life by just under four months on average. The drug is produced by Bayer, the Leverkusen, Germany, health-care giant, in partnership with Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Emeryville, Calif. Bayer offered to pay for every fourth treatment package, but the drug is still too expensive, the institute said, according to reports. Bayer said it would appeal the decision.

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