According to a recent draft guidance by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), Sanofi's cabazitaxel (Jevtana) – a chemotherapy drug for prostate cancer patients – is ‘too expensive’ to be used on the NHS!

Despite the fact that cabazitaxel, together with prednisone or prednisolone, can extend the lives of prostate cancer patients by up to 10 weeks, healthcare watchdog NICE said that the use of the drug as a second line of treatment after hormone therapy is “too expensive” as it involves an annual cost of over £89,000 per patient.

In the opinion of the experts at NICE, the clearly exorbitant spending on cabazitaxel – given the limited NHS resources - was further unjustified in the wake of the fact that the use of the drug brings along side-effects aplenty.

Noting that even though cabazitaxel “has been shown to be effective”, NICE chief executive Sir Andrew Dillon said that the drug is also linked with several “adverse events”, the most specific one among them being the supposed effect on the renal and cardiac systems of the users.

However, since Jevtana has been licensed for use in Europe as well as in the US – with clinical trials substantiating its effectiveness in helping men with advanced prostate cancer -, further decisions on the drug will be taken only after a consultation on NICE’s draft guidance!