The government’s drug advisory body the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has said that the price for new liver cancer drugs made by pharmaceutical company Bayer is too high for the NHS to be able to afford.

Nexavar – also known as sorafenib – can help prolong the lives of patients with advanced liver cancer. It will not provide a cure, however – but could prolong the life of a patient by as much as six months.

ITN News reports that Bayer has already said it will appeal against the decision by Nice. The pharma company has offered to provide every fourth packet of the drug free-of-charge.

The drug is used to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) – a form of liver cancer that develops within the liver, rather than metastasing from a tumour that originated in another part of the body.

Chief executive of Nice, Andrew Dillon, said:

‘We were disappointed not to have been able to recommend the use of sorafenib, but after carefully considering all the evidence – including the proposed patient access scheme in which the manufacturer offered to provide every fourth pack free – sorafenib does not provide enough benefit to patients to justify its high cost.’

More than 3,000 people are diagnosed with liver cancer in the UK every year – and more than 3,200 die from the disease. On average, only 20 per cent of those diagnosed survive for a year or more after diagnosis – and only 5 per cent survive for five years or more.

Head of campaigns at Macmillan Cancer Support, Mike Hobday, called the decision ‘a scandal’ which left advanced liver cancer patients with ‘no treatment options’.

‘It's time to rethink the way new cancer drugs are assessed to ensure fairer access to drugs for people with rarer cancers,’ he said.

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