Letter

Ranibizumab and bevacizumab

The cheaper drug, bevacizumab, should be referred to NICE

BMJ 2007; 334 doi: 10.1136/bmj.39128.708565.3A (Published 22 February 2007)
Cite this as: BMJ 2007;334:381.3

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  1. James P Raftery, professor of health technology assessment (raftery@soton.ac.uk)1,
  2. Andrew Lotery, professor of ophthalmology2
  1. 1University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1SG
  2. 2Southampton Eye Unit, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD

    We think that Chakravarthy and Lim could have said more about the pricing of ranibizumab and bevacizumab.1 Both drugs are owned by a single company, Roche/Genentech, which has no intention of licensing the cheaper. The US price of ranibizumab is $1950 or roughly £1000 per injection. Monthly injections would cost £12 000 per patient. Bevacizumab, which is licensed for cancer treatment, could cost as little as £17 per injection, as the dosages used for eyes are minute compared with cancer. In the US, off-licence bevacizumab is estimated …

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