The National Institute for Health Clinical Excellence (Nice) has provisionally rejected three commonly used leukaemia drugs for being too expensive compared to the benefit they bring.
It follows the previous banning of Avastin which was alternately offered by some private medical insurance (PMI) and cash plan providers.
With the government targeting £20bn of savings within the NHS, spending on expensive procedures and drugs has been under threat.
In its draft guidance, Nice has not recommended dasatinib, high-dose imatinib or nilotinib for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) that is resistant to standard-dose imatinib.
Both dasatinib and nilotinib cost in excess of £30,000 per patient per year, while Novartis (who also produces nilotinib) has recently raised the price of imatinib to over £40,000 for the high dose version.
Nice explained that as CML is a chronic condition the drugs would be used for a long period of time.
Andrew Dillon, chief executive at Nice, added: "The evidence for the effectiveness of dasatinib, high-dose imatinib and nilotinib is very weak.
"When we recommend the use of very expensive treatments, we need to be confident that they bring sufficient additional benefit to justify their cost."
The consultation period regarding this guidance is open until June 2011 and until NICE has issued its final guidance, NHS bodies should make decisions locally on the funding of specific treatments.
