NHS patients missing out on latest cancer therapies, report says

According to a report by Breast Cancer Now and Prostate Cancer UK, NHS patients are missing out on new cancer treatment because health bosses are failing to negotiate better prices for drugs.

The report reviewed the availability of cancer drugs in Britain compared to countries such as Germany, France, Sweden, Australia and Canada, and found that Britain had less access to such new treatments.

The review criticised UK drug commissioning bodies for depriving patients of life-sustaining drugs and called on Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to radically reform the system.

It cited that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) had not approved a new breast cancer drug for routine use on the NHS in the last seven years and raised concerns over bringing the new Cancer Drugs Fund back in to the control of the body.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, commented: “That NHS patients are being denied access to innovative new breast cancer drugs, while other countries are finding ways to make them available, is totally unacceptable.

“Pharmaceutical companies must indeed start offering more responsible prices. But until our health bodies are empowered to negotiate the price of cancer drugs, patients in the UK will continue to miss out.”

Responding to the study, a spokesman for the Department of Health said: “We are committed to getting the best cancer drugs to patients as quickly as possible at a price that is a good deal for the taxpayer and, as the largest single purchaser of drugs in the world, the NHS very often achieves that, though there is always more work to do.”