One of England's top healthcare watchdogs, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), has officially decided to stay the course and reject AstraZeneca's (NYSE: AZN) lung cancer drug Tagrisso.
A few months ago, the pharmaceutical giant argued that the drug should receive approval as the first line of defense for patients with EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer -- about 10% of all lung cancer patients. Clinical data has shown that Tagrisso can delay cancer growth for almost 19 months, in comparison to the 10 months that a pair of rival drugs were able to demonstrate. However, NICE found the drug to be too expensive relative to its effectiveness, costing 5,770 pounds ($7570) for a 30-day supply.
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