NICE has rejected calls from a cancer charity to fast-track its appraisal of Roche's cancer drug Xeloda.

The Institute said it would be unfair to prioritise its review of Roche's 'smart pill' as it was currently appraising 16 other cancer treatments.

Its response follows calls from Colon Cancer Concern for the Institute to prioritise its appraisal of Xeloda (capecitabine) for patients with early bowel cancer who have had surgery and other new colorectal cancer treatments.

The charity estimates that there are 7,000 such patients who would benefit from treatment with Xeloda. Crucially, 90% of sufferers survive if the disease is caught early.

The SMC (Scottish Medicines Consortium), the Scottish equivalent of NICE, recently recommended Xeloda as a treatment for early bowel cancer patients after surgery but NICE is not expected to make its decision for the same patient group until May of next year.

NICE has had to readjust its timetable for reviewing drugs following a forced budget cut which resulted in the scrapping of one of its three appraisal committees.

Heavily criticised for this decision the Institute is also still reeling from criticism over its decision not to recommend three Alzheimer's treatments on the NHS.

Colon Cancer Concern welcomed the decision to allow Scottish patients access to the drug. But chief executive officer Neil Brookes said: "It does also highlight the fact that bowel cancer patients in England and Wales will be denied access to oral chemotherapy such as Xeloda until May 2006 at the earliest.

"We call on NICE to reconsider its decision and prioritise the appraisal of all new colorectal cancer treatments, so that patients in England and Wales can benefit in the same way as Scottish patients can."

However Nice said that Xeloda is available to patients in England and Wales if their doctors are willing to prescribe it and their NHS trust is willing to provide funding.

Xeloda, which can be used to treat advanced breast cancer and colorectal cancer, has already been recommended by NICE and the SMC for patients with advanced colon cancer, before surgery or if surgery is not suitable.

Trial data has shown Xeloda reduces the risk of tumours returning in patients by 14% compared with the standard intravenous chemotherapy.

Roche's treatment can be taken as a pill, unlike traditional hospital-administered chemotherapy, meaning patients require fewer hospital visits.

Global sales of Xeloda have leapt by nearly 50% to CHF355 million in the first half of this year and Roche said its drug had the potential to save the NHS over £200 million a year in waiting times and cost savings.

Bowel cancer is the UK's second-biggest cancer killer with 35,000 people diagnosed with the disease each year and 16,000 dying from it. 

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