Pfizer's Lung Cancer Drug Xalkori Gets Final Rejection

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