Advertisement

Life-Extending Drugs Cut From NHS Cancer Fund

Life-Extending Drugs Cut From NHS Cancer Fund

Thousands of patients are going to miss out on life-extending drugs – after NHS England announced it was removing 16 medicines from the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Some of the delisted drugs were being used in treatments for bowel cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, pancreatic cancer and leukaemia.

The move follows concerns that the Cancer Drugs Fund has continually overspent on its annual budget – despite a recent increase from £200m to £340m a year.

Manufacturers of nine of the drugs affected have been given the opportunity to drop the prices charged to the NHS, to ensure new patients can still get access.

Cancer patients who have already begun receiving the delisted drugs through the fund will not be affected by the decision.

However, the Rarer Cancers Foundation has described the cost-cutting measure as "a hammer blow to many thousands of desperately ill cancer patients".

It said more than 5,500 people will lose the opportunity to the take life-extending medicines – which include Abraxane for pancreatic cancer, and Avastin for breast, bowel and cervical cancer.

The charity's chief executive, Andrew Wilson, also claimed there will be "no action to make available the newest game-changing drugs".

According to NHS England's current projections, expenditure on the Cancer Drugs Fund would have exceeded £410m this year without the changes – an overspend of approximately £70m.

It also means the number of medicines provided by the fund has been decreased by more than 50% - to just 15.

Professor Peter Clark, an oncologist who is the chairman of the Cancer Drugs Fund, said: "There is no escaping the fact that we face a difficult set of choices, but it is our duty to ensure we get maximum value from every penny available on behalf of patients.

"We must ensure we invest in those treatments that offer the most benefit, based on rigorous evidence-based clinical analysis and an assessment of the cost of those treatments."

Roche manufactures Kadcyla, one of the delisted drugs which costs an average of £5,900 per patient each month.

Its medical director claimed NHS England has been offered £15m in savings on the price it pays for Roche medicines in the Cancer Drug Fund "to protect all patients at risk of losing access".

According to the Department of Health, more than 72,000 people have accessed cancer medicines using the fund since its introduction.