The decision by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the UK’s medicines advisory body, to reject several new cancer treatments is a warning to drug companies and healthcare systems alike. Both need to adapt.

Nice barred Avastin for breast and lung cancer because Roche, the manufacturer, refused to submit data as requested, after estimating that the drug would miss the agency’s value-for-money limit. Such withholding of information should be firmly discouraged.