Roche criticises NICE rejection of cancer drug Kadcyla

The NHS drugs watchdog in England has rejected a treatment that can extend the lives of some women with breast cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says Kadcyla is too expensive to be made available on the NHS.

The drug costs around £90,000 per patient and extends the lives of women with advanced forms of the disease by an average of six months.

NICE Chief Executive Andrew Dillon said in a statement: "Although Roche proposed a discount to the full list price of Kadcyla, it made little difference to its value for money, leaving it well above the top of our specially extended range of cost effectiveness for cancer drugs."

Jennifer Cozzone, the head of health economics and pricing at Roche, the company that manufactures the drug, told BBC Breakfast she disagreed with the decision.