NICE rejects Roche's Avastin for breast cancer

July 6, 2012 | By Ryan McBride On the heels of the U.K. spending watchdog's rejection of Roche's ($RHHBY) skin cancer drug Zelboraf, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has denied the Swiss drugmaker's Avastin to combat late-stage breast cancer, saying that the use of Avastin and chemo stymied disease progression but failed to show that patients lived longer on the drug. Drugmakers will likely head these rejections in the U.K. as they design studies for cancer drugs, which have faced previously unseen pricing quibbles from payers.