NICE bars cancer drug that's free in Scotland: £4,000-a-month treatment that can halt disease will not be available in England or Wales Crizotinib is a powerful new drug that can halt the advance of lung cancer But the medicine regulator for England and Wales say it is too expensive Meanwhile the Scottish Medicines Consortium have waved it through Critics have described the difference in availability as 'a lottery' Access denied: Crizotinib could benefit 1,000 patients a year but is deemed to lack evidence of benefits Patients in England and Wales are being denied a lung cancer drug that will be available to hospitals in Scotland. Crizotinib can halt the advance of the disease for almost eight months on average. But the treatment, which costs £4,000 a month, has been deemed too expensive by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for use south of the border. However in the latest example of health apartheid, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) is to give the green light for the drug to be used within NHS Scotland. Taxpayers in England and Wales will contribute to the general funding, but will not benefit from it. The drug, which was fast-tracked for use in the US last year, is designed for patients with a specific genetic mutation - called ALK positive - in non-small cell lung cancer. It is estimated that 1,000 patients a year could benefit from the drug. Trials suggest a doubling of time on average before the cancer progressed, up from three months to 7.7 months. Critics of NICE said the case for a fundamental overhaul was now overwhelming. This year alone, the body has failed to recommend any new cancer medicines from the 11 appraisals on which it has made decisions. At last week's Tory party conference, David Cameron was forced to announce a two-year extension to the £200million-a-year Cancer Drugs Fund - which pays for treatments denied by NICE. Following the crizotinib announcement, Conservative MP Priti Patel said: "While this is tremendous news for cancer patients in Scotland, we once again have to question why NICE has rejected another cancer drug for use in England. Improving the lives of cancer patients should be their key priority. England runs the risk of lagging behind Europe when it comes to research and development in life sciences and the use of pioneering, lifesaving drugs. Reform of NICE so they put the improved access to treatments for patients first is vital so that we end what increasingly looks like a lottery when it comes to access for drugs. Rapid help: The new drug halts the advance for non-small cell lung cancer for eight months, more than double the time for chemotherapy Professor Dean Fennell, chairman of thoracic medical oncology at the University of Leicester, said: "Given the high incidence of lung cancer in Scotland and the fact that many of these patients do not respond to chemotherapy, this is welcome news for Scottish patients. However, this decision also shines the spotlight on a major issue facing UK cancer patients - that their treatment choices and potential outcomes are seemingly dependent on where they live. Ben Osborn, of drug-maker Pfizer UK, said: "This raises important questions about NICE and how, armed with the same information, it can reach an entirely different conclusion on the value of this medicine." Sir Andrew Dillon, NICE chief executive, said: "We were disappointed not to be able to add crizotinib as a treatment option for patients in England and Wales. Health services have to be confident that the extra benefit to patients justifies the price. If we are not sure, we have to say so, in the interests of all those of us who expect the NHS to apply its resources equitably across all of the demands we make of it. These judgments are frequently finely balanced and although NICE and the Scottish Medicines Consortium usually reach similar conclusions, it is inevitable that we will differ from time to time.