Boehringer Ingelheim’s advanced lung cancer drug Vargatef is too expensive to justify the modest benefit it provides patients, according to the UK’s healthcare cost watchdog that recommended against coverage.

The combination of Vargatef (nintedanib) and docetaxel chemotherapy gives patients only 1.4 months of progression-free survival and 2.3 months of overall survival, according to Dec. 22 draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Meanwhile, Vargatef would cost the National Health Service roughly $109,000 for each additional year of quality life, the draft guidance said.

Subsequent care is likely to push the cost of Vargatef even higher, NICE says. A 30-day pack of the drug costs $3,347.

The European Medicines Agency approved the drug in combination with docetaxel as a second-line therapy for non-small cell lung adenocarcinomas.

Comments on the draft guidance are due Jan. 26. View it at www.fdanews.com/12-23-14-nintedanib.pdf. — Lena Freund