I supported the creation of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), which has helped more than 72,000 cancer patients with pioneering drugs since it was set up and the Conservative Party’s 2015 Manifesto committed to continue to invest in the CDF.
The budget for the CDF has increased to £280 million for 2014/15 and will increase to £340 million for 2015/16 – an increase of 70 per cent. I know that NHS England recently made some changes to which drugs are available through the CDF based on the advice of clinicians and the best available evidence, to ensure that we are spending NHS resources on the best drugs that make the biggest difference to patients. Advances in medical science mean that new medicines are emerging all the time and the Government wants people to have access to the very latest drugs. That is why experts have to make decisions to stop routinely funding drugs with limited clinical benefit, to fund new and better drugs that offer more to patients.
It is important to provide the NHS with a more systematic approach to achieving the best price for cancer drugs, meaning more treatments can be made available, and giving a greater focus on evaluation, leading to the best drugs progressing swiftly to routine commissioning.
I appreciate this may cause concern, but let me reassure you that any patient currently receiving a drug through the CDF will continue to receive it. Furthermore, no drug will be removed where it is the only treatment available for a specific condition and individual applications can be made for access to any cancer drug.
Additionally, where a drug offers enough clinical benefit, pharmaceutical companies can reduce the price they are asking the NHS to pay to ensure appropriate value for money. I am aware that a number of negotiations are underway.
The Government remains committed to raising the cancer survival rate in Britain to be the best in Europe, which I fully support.
