Baying for a flexible drug price.

摘要

If you are a patient with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who is not suitable for surgery, the drug sorafenib could extend your life for about 3 months. But not if you use the UK's National Health Service (NHS). On Nov 19,the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) ruled that sorafenib for advanced heptocellular carcinoma should not be made available on the NHS because, although it is clinically efficacious, with tolerable side-effects (mainly hand-foot syndrome and diarrhoea), it is not cost effective. NICE deemed sorafenib to be too expensive even when it took into account a patient access scheme, bffered by the drug's manufacturer Bayer, to provide every fourth pack of treatment for free.