FOCUS-UK rules against Glaxo flu drug on NHS (NA inhibitor like BCRX compound)
(Updates with Glaxo comment)
Friday October 8, 3:50 pm Eastern Time
By Jonathan Birt, European pharmaceuticals correspondent
LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The British government said on Friday it did not want Glaxo Wellcome Plc's (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: GLXO.L) new influenza treatment Relenza to be subsidised by the state-run National Health Service (NHS).
In a statement, Health Secretary Frank Dobson said he endorsed the findings of the government's new drugs advisory body, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), which decided Relenza had not been shown to offer sufficient benefits to merit dispensing on the NHS.
Dobson, who met Glaxo Chairman Richard Sykes on Friday morning, said he had asked NICE to work with the company to ... ''ensure their research delivers early and adequate evidence on the impact of Relenza on high risk groups, so that NICE can reconsider its guidance well before the 'flu season in the winter of 2000/2001.''
The rejection of Relenza and the tone of the comments from NICE are a serious blow for Glaxo, which is concerned the British reaction will be imitated around the world. The company said the extra data demanded would be difficult to get if the drug was not available on the NHS.
''This outcome, and the way the NICE process has operated, represent a serious worsening of the environment for the British-based, research-driven pharmaceutical industry, which is one of the few in which this country holds a world-leading position,'' Sykes said in a statement.
GOVERNMENT FEARS OVER POTENTIAL COST
Relenza will be available by private prescription in Britain at a cost of at least 24 pounds per course, and under existing rules doctors could still prescribe it on the NHS if they felt it was in the interests of an individual patient.
NICE said on evidence currently available, the benefits of Relenza were ''modest'' in otherwise healthy individuals, and cut the length of a bout of flu by just one day from six to five.
The government has been concerned about the cost of the inhaled drug that inhibits the spread of the 'flu virus. It was discovered by Australian biotech Biota Holdings Ltd (Australia:BTA.AX - news).
It has been estimated the therapy could cost the cash-strapped NHS 100 million pounds ($165 million) in an epidemic year, but Glaxo argues it would be 10 to 15 million pounds in an ordinary year, offset by reductions in hospital admissions and other treatment costs.
Dobson was faced with an awkward political choice of ignoring NICE on its first ever ruling, destroying its credibility, or infuriating Britain's highly successful and influential pharmaceutical industry.
The government still risks awkward headlines about the drug ban over flu-related deaths this winter among people most at risk from the condition -- particularly the elderly. Up to 4,000 people die of 'flu in Britain in an average year.
DECISION WILL WORSEN RELATIONS WITH UK DRUG COMPANIES
Glaxo and rivals AstraZeneca Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: AZN.L) and SmithKline Beecham Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SB.L) sent a furious jooint letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair this week saying the intervention of NICE could seriously threaten the drugs industry in Britain.
Because products can be introduced rapidly without haggling over prices, the NHS has often served as a showcase for new drugs in Europe.
''The repercussions of this for the UK pharmaceutical industry, for Glaxo and for Relenza are beyond quantification,'' said WestLB Panmure analyst Stephen Ewing.
NICE was set up to advise on the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of treatments and take the heat out of political decisions on costly new drugs.
The ban won the backing of the the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Nursing.
-- additional reporting by Edna Fernandes
($1 equals .6046 Pound)
Friday October 8, 3:50 pm Eastern Time
FOCUS-UK rules against Glaxo flu drug on NHS
(Updates with Glaxo comment)
By Jonathan Birt, European pharmaceuticals correspondent
LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The British government said on Friday it did not want Glaxo Wellcome Plc's (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: GLXO.L) new influenza treatment Relenza to be subsidised by the state-run National Health Service (NHS).
In a statement, Health Secretary Frank Dobson said he endorsed the findings of the government's new drugs advisory body, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), which decided Relenza had not been shown to offer sufficient benefits to merit dispensing on the NHS.
Dobson, who met Glaxo Chairman Richard Sykes on Friday morning, said he had asked NICE to work with the company to ... ''ensure their research delivers early and adequate evidence on the impact of Relenza on high risk groups, so that NICE can reconsider its guidance well before the 'flu season in the winter of 2000/2001.''
The rejection of Relenza and the tone of the comments from NICE are a serious blow for Glaxo, which is concerned the British reaction will be imitated around the world. The company said the extra data demanded would be difficult to get if the drug was not available on the NHS.
''This outcome, and the way the NICE process has operated, represent a serious worsening of the environment for the British-based, research-driven pharmaceutical industry, which is one of the few in which this country holds a world-leading position,'' Sykes said in a statement.
GOVERNMENT FEARS OVER POTENTIAL COST
Relenza will be available by private prescription in Britain at a cost of at least 24 pounds per course, and under existing rules doctors could still prescribe it on the NHS if they felt it was in the interests of an individual patient.
NICE said on evidence currently available, the benefits of Relenza were ''modest'' in otherwise healthy individuals, and cut the length of a bout of flu by just one day from six to five.
The government has been concerned about the cost of the inhaled drug that inhibits the spread of the 'flu virus. It was discovered by Australian biotech Biota Holdings Ltd (Australia:BTA.AX - news).
It has been estimated the therapy could cost the cash-strapped NHS 100 million pounds ($165 million) in an epidemic year, but Glaxo argues it would be 10 to 15 million pounds in an ordinary year, offset by reductions in hospital admissions and other treatment costs.
Dobson was faced with an awkward political choice of ignoring NICE on its first ever ruling, destroying its credibility, or infuriating Britain's highly successful and influential pharmaceutical industry.
The government still risks awkward headlines about the drug ban over flu-related deaths this winter among people most at risk from the condition -- particularly the elderly. Up to 4,000 people die of 'flu in Britain in an average year.
DECISION WILL WORSEN RELATIONS WITH UK DRUG COMPANIES
Glaxo and rivals AstraZeneca Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: AZN.L) and SmithKline Beecham Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SB.L) sent a furious jooint letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair this week saying the intervention of NICE could seriously threaten the drugs industry in Britain.
Because products can be introduced rapidly without haggling over prices, the NHS has often served as a showcase for new drugs in Europe.
''The repercussions of this for the UK pharmaceutical industry, for Glaxo and for Relenza are beyond quantification,'' said WestLB Panmure analyst Stephen Ewing.
NICE was set up to advise on the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of treatments and take the heat out of political decisions on costly new drugs.
The ban won the backing of the the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Nursing.
-- additional reporting by Edna Fernandes
($1 equals .6046 Pound)
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