NICE Rejects Roche's Skin Cancer Drug Combination - Drug Discovery and Development

England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued draft guidance on Thursday declining to accept Roche’s melanoma treatment, Cotellic and Zelboraf, into its national coverage plan.

The drugs are, “designed for people with advanced disease who have a particular genetic profile, known as BRAF V600 mutation-positive melanoma,” according to Reuters.

NICE acknowledged in its release that both treatments had a positive impact on increasing survival rates, but said that the price wasn’t justified when compared to alternatives.

A treatment regimen using these drugs costs about £4,275.67 for 63 tablets, which translates to more than £100,000 per year, wrote FiercePharma.

Roche still has room to negotiate. The Swiss drug-maker already provides a discount solely for Zelboraf, but each party had not had a chance to agree on a discount for Cotellic when NICE wrote its draft guidance.

However, the company notched a win when the EU approved its lymphoma drug Gazyvaro on Thursday.

Read NICE’s decision here.