Britain denies Bowel cancer victims life-prolonging drug

Government rationing of healthcare, learn to love it.

Bowel cancer sufferers are to be denied a life-prolonging drug on the NHS which is available to patients across Europe and beyond. Trials show Avastin can extend life by almost two years. But the Government's rationing body, Nice, says it is not cost-effective. Avastin, also known as bevacizumab, costs around £18,000 for a course of ten months' treatment given as intravenous infusion with chemotherapy. The price is similar to that in other countries. But the complex formula used by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which looks at quality of life and overall cost effectiveness, says the annual cost is £36,000. This breaks the maximum limit set by Nice of £30,000 - a figure which has not changed in ten years despite inflation. Dr Carole Longson, director of the health technology evaluation centre at Nice, said its decision was preliminary. While it recognised that the drug 'may provide benefits in terms of clinical effectiveness', it concluded that 'the high cost of bevacizumab relative to the benefits it brings means that it is not a cost-effective use of NHS resources'.