New cancer drugs taking longer to reach patients

New analysis of regulatory data has shown that NHS patients are waiting longer for new cancer drugs because of delays in taking them through clinical trials and getting them approved for use.

The Institute of Cancer Research, London, has found that rapid advances in cancer research have driven a big increase in the numbers of treatments developed, but that corresponding efforts to speed up access for patients are not bearing fruit.

The report also raises concerns that NICE is not doing enough to ensure the most innovative treatments reach patients, with innovative drugs actually less likely to have been approved for use on the NHS than much less innovative treatments. Furthermore, there are stark differences in the rate of development of new cancer drugs for different tumour types – with 15 drugs licensed for breast cancer from 2000-16, but none at all for brain cancer.

From patent to patient – analysing access to innovative cancer drugs says that the rate of drug authorisations has almost doubled between 2000 and 2016 but that the average time from when a cancer drug is patented to approval by NICE having increased from 12.7 years from 2000-08 to 14.1 years from 2009-16.

Paul Workman, chief executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, said: “Our analysis gives us a vivid picture of the state of the nation in cancer drug discovery, development, licensing and appraisal. It’s great news that the incredible scientific advances we have seen over the last decade are fuelling an increase in the rate of drug discovery and development, but it’s clear that we need to do so much more to get innovative new treatments to patients.

“The future of cancer drug development lies in smaller, smarter, streamlined clinical trials, so it is frustrating to see the journey to patients slowing down when it should be speeding up. We need to address the regulatory barriers in setting up and running clinical trials, and in getting drugs licensed at as early a stage as possible. We need academia to play a leadership role in encouraging drug companies to bring forward new models of trials as quickly as possible.

“We also need NICE to place much more emphasis on innovation in assessing new cancer drugs, so we can give patients access to exciting new treatments that attack cancers in brand new ways. We need genuinely novel drugs that deliver step-change benefits either on their own or in combination – in order to meet the major clinical challenge of cancer evolution and drug resistance.”