NICE slammed by leading doctors for brain cancer drug refusal

The body responsible for approving medicines for use in the NHS has been attacked by a group of clinicians for ignoring patient needs.

The doctors voiced their concerns, in a letter addressed to the health secretary Patricia Hewitt, over a preliminary decision by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) to not allow the use of temozolomide and carmustine in early high grade brain cancer giloma.

Apart from potentially limiting patient care, the letter claimed that the decision to deny access to the drugs would set back British oncology and cancer research. It said that the drug had been adopted as standard treatment in North America, Europe and Australasia, and that it had been shown to be cost effective.

“The preliminary recommendation from the NICE Appraisal Committee that temozolomide and carmustine implants should not be used? has elicited universal disappointment and condemnation from the neuro-oncology community,” the letter read.

“Moreover, the committee’s recommendations for further research serve only to underline its fundamental lack of understanding of what is a highly specialist area of expertise.”

It claimed that the decision contravened the NHS’ own cancer plan and urged the health secretary to put pressure on NICE to obtain appraisal for the drugs.

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