Lansley to create £50 million cancer drugs fund
pharmafile | July 28, 2010 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Cancer, NHS, government, market access
The UK government is setting up a multi-million pound fund dedicated to improving patient access to innovative new cancer drugs.
From October an extra £50 million will be made available to help the NHS pay for oncology treatments as an interim measure designed to improve access before the longer-term Cancer Drug Fund is launched next April.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “It’s a scandal that we are strong in cancer research and participation in clinical trials in the UK, yet NHS patients aren’t always seeing the benefits from the research swiftly enough.
“This funding will help to ensure … that we meet the needs of cancer patients immediately while we set about our longer term plans to change the way we pay for drugs so that patients get better access to medicines and the NHS gets better value for money.”
The announcement was made at the launch of a new report on international variations in drug usage by National Cancer director Professor Sir Mike Richards that shows the UK’s uptake of new drugs falls behind other European countries.
Sir Mike said that his report showed a “mixed picture in the uptake of drugs” across a range of diseases and conditions.
He added: “Usage of new cancer drugs is relatively low in comparison with international averages and I therefore welcome the additional £50 million being made available this year for cancer drugs.”
In line with the new White Paper proposals, doctors will be put in charge of deciding how the interim funding is spent, based on the advice of cancer specialists, and it precedes the 2011 Cancer Drugs Fund announced prior to the general election this year.
The Conservatives have long criticised the slow uptake of new cancer drugs by the NHS and part of their electoral campaign was based on making cancer drugs more widely available.
The new fund is an implicit snub to UK drugs watchdog NICE, which is responsible for assessing the cost-effectiveness of new cancer drugs after they have received regulatory approval in Europe.
The watchdog has come under scrutiny during its ten-year history from both the Conservatives and a number of tabloid newspapers for not recommending a number of cancer drugs.
A spokesman for NICE said: “We look forward to working with others to address the many questions Sir Mike raises such as ‘what is the optimum level of drug usage in different disease areas’, and ‘does a high usage of drugs imply that patients’ needs are being met or that there are weaknesses at previous points along the care pathway’?
“Sir Mike stresses clearly in the report that high or low ranking should not be taken to imply good or poor performance – no countries were consistently high users of drugs across all categories.”
Ben Adams
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