NHS spending rules risk depriving Britain of new medicine, warns AstraZeneca boss
NHS spending rules risk depriving Britain of new medicines, the boss of AstraZeneca has warned, amid a row over a decision to block its life-extending breast cancer drug.
Sir Pascal Soriot warned that access to medicine in England would “totally shrink” without a review of how the NHS spending watchdog assesses new drugs and decides if they are value for money.
He said: “The methodology needs to be adjusted and patients need to get access to the medicines that can really change their life.”
It comes amid a backlash over a decision by the NHS spending watchdog, the National Institute for Care and Health Excellence (Nice), to reject AstraZeneca’s Enhertu drug for breast cancer.
The treatment has been found to double the life expectancy for terminal breast cancer patients, with trials also suggesting that the drug can cut the risk of terminal breast cancer spreading or growing by 38pc when compared with standard chemotherapy.
However, the drug is not available for NHS patients in England and Wales because of the Nice decision. Campaigners have claimed that for thousands of women this has cut their lives short. The treatment is available in countries including Scotland, the United States and Romania.
Nice opted to block the new treatment for English patients in March after ruling that metastatic breast cancer, also known as stage IV breast cancer, was a “moderately severe disease”. Because of this, it decided that AstraZeneca’s breast cancer drug did not offer value for money.
At the time, the spending watchdog said the cost-effectiveness was “above the upper end of the range Nice considers an acceptable use of NHS resources”.
Sir Pascal called on Sir Keir Starmer to investigate how these decisions are made, arguing that Nice had made an error in classifying stage IV breast cancer as “moderately severe”. He added: “Everybody would tell you it is a severe disease.”
The AstraZeneca boss said the current methodology was proving a “roadblock” which would affect many other drugs for cancer and other severe diseases. He said it risked pushing drug makers to invest less in Britain, adding: “Developing medicine in our country doesn’t really make a lot of sense – it’s not very attractive if patients won’t benefit.”
Sir Pascal said: “We hope the new Government will consider this and that will be reviewed.”
The pressure on the Prime Minister comes after previous warnings from AstraZeneca that the UK is becoming less competitive as a place for life sciences companies to invest.
Last year he criticised the UK’s “discouraging” taxes. In early 2023, AstraZeneca snubbed Britain for a new $400m (£314m) new drug factory, citing the less attractive investment environment.
However, Sir Pascal had suggested that relations were thawing in recent months and progress had been made on making Britain a better place to invest. In March, AstraZeneca agreed to spend £650m on building a new vaccine factory in Liverpool and upgrading research labs in Cambridge.
It is currently in talks with the Government over a funding package for the scheme.
However, Sir Pascal said there was still “more to be done” to make Britain a better place to invest.
He added: “Companies like AstraZeneca and [rival] GSK are probably a bit different because we’re rooted in the UK so our willingness to continue to invest is slightly higher than other companies.
“But the life sciences ecosystem needs many companies from around the world to invest in the country.”
He said access to medicines “needs to change in the UK” for more of those businesses to keep spending in the country.
Sir Pascal added: “Nice has to change the scoring of diseases and that’s where it has to start.”