The United Kingdom’s National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) released Monday that it will not be recommending state funding for Vidaza (azacitidine). Patients in England and Wales with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and acute myeloid leukemia, the three conditions for which the drug is approved, will not be able to receive the drug unless the manufacturer reduces the cost of treatment.

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) approved Vidaza for European markets in March of this year. For use of Vidaza in the U.K., the drug manufacturer, Celgene, is…