This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Access to more cancer drugs after price drop
Patients will have routine access to more cancer drugs as companies have dropped their prices as part of the reformed Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) process.
The CDF was established by the Government in 2010 as a temporary solution to help patients access cancer drugs that were not widely available on the NHS. Having exceeded its original £200 million budget, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) carries out appraisals for the drugs in the existing Fund and all newly licensed cancer drugs as part of reforms.
NICE is now halfway through the drugs it is considering from the CDF, with all having been recommended for routine NHS use so far. NICE has recently recommended two more drugs, for bowel cancer, this month for routine use, bringing the total of CDF drugs approved so far to 14.
The recommendations are opening up access to drugs for breast, lung and kidney cancers, with Cetuximab (Erbitux, Merck Serono) and panitumumab (Vectibix, Amgen) now recommended as options for certain people with bowel cancer, as of 2 March.
Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive at NICE, said: “The system is working well. Companies are cooperating well with our reviews and the good news for patients is that more cancer drugs than ever are being recommended for routine use. As drugs move off the CDF, we free up funding for new drugs coming down the pipeline, so patients will have faster access to promising cancer drugs and the NHS makes the most of its resources.”
Deborah Alsina MBE, chief executive at Bowel Cancer UK, added: “This announcement is very welcome as currently less than one in ten people with advanced bowel cancer survive for five years or more. Ongoing access to these medicines is very important as it offers hope for longer term survival and for some even the chance of a full remission. The advancement of targeted therapies is an important development in the treatment of people with bowel cancer and is part of an ongoing shift from everyone receiving the same treatment to people beginning to receive treatment right for them based on their genetic profile.”
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