Thousands of cancer patients will be denied NHS drugs following a decision to
withdraw funding for at least eight life-extending treatments.
Medication which offers a last chance to patients with breast, prostate and
bowel disease will no longer be funded by the NHS, under plans to cut
spending.
Ahead of the last election, the Conservatives pledged to introduce a Cancer
Drugs Fund so that cancer patients were no longer denied drugs on the
grounds of cost.
But the £200m fund, introduced in 2011, has overspent its budget, despite the
fact it was increased to £280m, leading to a review of 25 drugs which are
used in 42 treatments.
The treatments include six drugs for breast cancer – Halaven, Avastin, Kadcyla, Afinitor, Tyverb and Perjeta. They also include Jevtana - the only treatment for hormone resistant advanced prostate cancer, when disease has progressed in spite of chemotherapy – and Zaltrap, a drug used for bowel cancer drug that can extend life after a tumour has spread. The two latter drugs have been requested for NHS funding for 2,000 patients in the last 18 months, while the breast cancer drugs have been funded around 3,000 times in the last year. Danni Manzi, head of policy at Breast Cancer Care charity, said: “This re-evaluation process is a warning sign that the entire Fund is unravelling.
“We are extremely concerned that breast cancer drugs could be removed.
“It would be soul destroying for many secondary breast cancer patients if they were unable to access these drugs simply due to cost.
"We want to get more drugs to people more quickly and in the UK today there are some people – thousands of people. who want a certain cancer drug, whose doctors tell them they should have a certain cancer drug, who don't get it."
At the same time as reassessing current drugs, the NHS is also evaluating 12 new therapies.
Any patient currently having a drug paid for by the fund will not be affected by any changes which come into effect in March 2015.
Professor Peter Clark, an oncologist and chairman of the Cancer Drugs Fund, said: "We need to get maximum value for every pound we spend".
"We can no longer sustain a position where we are funding drugs that don't offer sufficient clinical benefit when drugs that will do more for patients are coming on stream.
The treatments include six drugs for breast cancer – Halaven, Avastin, Kadcyla, Afinitor, Tyverb and Perjeta. They also include Jevtana - the only treatment for hormone resistant advanced prostate cancer, when disease has progressed in spite of chemotherapy – and Zaltrap, a drug used for bowel cancer drug that can extend life after a tumour has spread. The two latter drugs have been requested for NHS funding for 2,000 patients in the last 18 months, while the breast cancer drugs have been funded around 3,000 times in the last year. Danni Manzi, head of policy at Breast Cancer Care charity, said: “This re-evaluation process is a warning sign that the entire Fund is unravelling.
“We are extremely concerned that breast cancer drugs could be removed.
“It would be soul destroying for many secondary breast cancer patients if they were unable to access these drugs simply due to cost.
"We want to get more drugs to people more quickly and in the UK today there are some people – thousands of people. who want a certain cancer drug, whose doctors tell them they should have a certain cancer drug, who don't get it."
At the same time as reassessing current drugs, the NHS is also evaluating 12 new therapies.
Any patient currently having a drug paid for by the fund will not be affected by any changes which come into effect in March 2015.
Professor Peter Clark, an oncologist and chairman of the Cancer Drugs Fund, said: "We need to get maximum value for every pound we spend".
"We can no longer sustain a position where we are funding drugs that don't offer sufficient clinical benefit when drugs that will do more for patients are coming on stream.
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