Claiming the drug, also called crizotinib, was too expensive, UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended against approving the drug for use in the cash-strapped universal healthcare system, despite Pfizer's offer of a discount.
NICE has deemed the drug clinically effective but not cost-effective. Xalkori's list price runs about $80,000.
The Pfizer drug, approved by FDA in 2011 and in Europe last year, is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets cancers that test positive for ALK-gene rearrangements. Pfizer has said that the current cost-evaluation systems are problematic for highly targeted drugs like Xalkori. Read more