The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7363 p218
20 August 2005

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Local policy needed for capecitabine use in England and Wales until NICE issues advice

NHS organisations should develop their own local policy on how capecitabine (Xeloda) is prescribed until the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has issued guidance, Andrea Sutcliffe, the deputy chief executive of NICE, said last week.

Ms Sutcliffe was responding to media reports about “restrictions” on the prescribing of capecitabine in England and Wales after the Scottish Medicines Consortium endorsed capecitabine as a treatment for colon cancer (PJ, 13 August, p184). She explained that funding for newly licensed treatments should not be withheld because guidance from NICE is unavailable. “Once we have issued our guidance, this will replace the local decisions and promote equal access for patients across England and Wales,” she said.