Roche skin cancer drugs "too expensive", says UK cost agency

LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - Roche's two-drug combination of Cotellic and Zelboraf for melanoma was rejected by Britain's healthcare cost agency NICE (Milan: NICE.MI - news) as "too expensive" on Thursday, in contrast to the green light given in April to a rival cocktail from Novartis (LSE: 0QLR.L - news) .

Both treatments are designed for people with advanced disease who have a particular genetic profile, known as BRAF V600 mutation-positive melanoma.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said Roche's combination offered life-extending benefits but compared to alternatives it cost too much.

The list prices of the two drugs in Britain are 4,275.67 pounds ($6,022) and 7,000 respectively for 28 days, although Roche would have offered a discount for Zelboraf.

By comparison, the list price of Novartis' Mekinist and Tafinlar combined is 10,080 pounds, and Novartis also offered a discount.

The size of discounts offered to NICE are commercially confidential.

($1 = 0.7100 pounds) (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Mark Potter)