Cancer Drugs face cuts in England's NHS cost-cutting

NHS England is meeting pharmaceutical companies this week to tell them whether their medicines will remain on the Cancer Drugs Fund.

The fund currently allows patients to access 37 drugs that are not routinely available on the NHS in England. More than 20 treatments were removed or restricted in January in an attempt to rein in an overspend of almost £100m. But manufacturers will now be told whether the remaining drugs pass a new, tougher assessment of benefit, and whether they offer value for money.

Cancer charities warn further cuts will deny patients access to life-extending treatment.
A spokesperson for NHS England stated: "The Cancer Drugs Fund has a finite pot of money and the re-evaluation is part of a process to ensure the best drugs are on it."

From April next year the fund will be completely overhauled, with drugs only allowed to remain on the list if they are proven to be effective in the "real-world" of the NHS, not just clinical trials.

A public consultation on the changes is due to start in September.

But Karl Claxton, a health economist at York University, said the fund should be scrapped altogether.
His calculations show 21,000 patients a year are losing out on life-saving or life-enhancing treatments for heart, lung and gastro-intestinal diseases because NHS money is diverted into the Cancer Fund.
"The Cancer Drugs Fund has been a scandalous use of public money and an unethical use of NHS resources," he said. "It has put the interests of manufacturers ahead of patients and it is time for the political will to be found to address the underlying problem of the price being charged for drugs."