BEST NEWS EVER - THE CANCER DRUGS FUND

[Rose Woodward]

FOR ONCE I'M OUT OF WORDS.................

WRITTEN MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Report on the Extent and Causes of International Variations in Drug Usage and funding to support improved access to cancer drugs


Tuesday 27 July 2010


The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Andrew Lansley): In 2008, Professor Sir Mike Richards, National Cancer Director, was asked to lead a review of the extent and causes of international variations in drug usage and provide a report. Professor Richards’ report has been in the Library and copies are available to hon members from the Vote Office.

I would like to thank Professor Richards and his advisory group for their work on the report. They have undertaken a thorough review, which represents the most comprehensive analysis yet of the extent and potential causes of international variations in medicines usage.

The report explores the extent and causes of international variations in drug usage across 14 countries, including the United Kingdom, for a range of conditions and diseases. The report indicates that there are wide international variations in usage of most of the drugs included in the study. Although a few countries emerge as generally high or low users, there does not appear to be a uniform pattern across disease areas.

As with most of the countries studied, usage levels in the UK appear mixed when looking across the range of conditions. It does however show high levels of use in some important areas, for example of lipid regulating drugs which are helping to prevent many deaths from cardio-vascular disease.

One of the more concerning findings in the report relates to our usage of newer cancer drugs, which lags behind that of most of the countries studied. The findings in this report make it even more important that government does everything it can to remove barriers to doctors prescribing the cancer drugs they think will help their NHS patients. In the medium term our plans to introduce value-based medicines pricing in 2014, on expiry of the current Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, will allow government to take the initiative on access to new medicines. We will make new medicines available to NHS patients at a price that represents their value, rather than being restricted to recommending against the use of a new drug in the NHS due to the price its manufacturer sets.

However, we also need to act to improve access to these drugs in the meantime. As an interim measure, the coalition agreement set out our plans to establish a cancer drugs fund from April 2011, subject to the Spending Review outcome. The need for this fund is clearly supported by Professor Richards’ findings, and we will be consulting on our plans for the fund later in the year. But the report underlines the need for action now to help NHS patients access the cancer drugs their doctors think will benefit them.

I am therefore announcing today additional funding of £50 million for this financial year to support improved access to cancer drugs. This funding, which has been found from a review of Department of Health central budgets, will be made available through clinically-led regional panels from October 2010.

This government is committed to ensuring that cancer patients no longer have to worry about whether they will be able to get the cancer drugs their doctors recommend from the NHS.

No longer should patients have to jump through flaming hoops of fire to get the cancer drugs their doctors want to prescribe....

Rose & Julia..... more to come when we get our breath back...!!

[Sandy63]

Yeah - David Cameron kept his promise! I too am speechless Rose - but brilliant news.

[Rose Woodward]

27/07/2010 10:54

Department of Health

£50m additional funding for cancer drugs

Cancer patients are to get greater access to cancer drugs recommended by their doctors as a result of a new £50 million fund announced by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley today.

Publishing a report by National Cancer Director Professor Sir Mike Richards on international variations in drug usage that shows the UK’s uptake of new drugs falls behind other European countries, the Health Secretary said that from October, an extra £50 million will be available to help patients get access to innovative new cancer drugs.

The funding means that cancer patients will be able to access these drugs now to help extend life or improve quality of life, ahead of longer term plans to change the way the NHS pays for drugs. This interim measure will help those cancer patients who need access to drugs now, and precedes the Cancer Drugs Fund due to commence in April next year. Doctors will be put in charge of deciding how the funding is spent for their patients locally based on the advice of cancer specialists.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:

“I promised that I would help patients in England get cancer drugs that are readily available in the rest of Europe. It's a scandal that we are strong in cancer research and participation in clinical trials in the UK, yet NHS patients aren't always seeing the benefits from the research swiftly enough.

"Patients should have access to innovative cancer drugs that can extend or improve their quality of life and which their doctors have recommended, which is why I'm determined to take action now. This funding will help to ensure that this happens, and that we meet the needs of cancer patients immediately while we set about our longer term plans to change the way we pay for drugs so that patients get better access to medicines and the NHS gets better value for money.

“I thank Professor Sir Mike Richards for his thorough review. This shows that whilst, like other countries, our uptake of drugs across different disease areas is mixed, we need to act now to improve access to newer cancer drugs.”

National Cancer Director, Professor Sir Mike Richards said:


“My report shows a mixed picture in the uptake of drugs across a range of diseases and conditions. In the UK, we have shown encouraging results in NHS usage of statins to reduce cardiovascular disease.

“My findings show however, that usage of new cancer drugs is relatively low in comparison with international averages and I therefore welcome the additional £50 million being made available this year for cancer drugs. This will mean that cancer patients will begin to benefit from new drugs now in advance of the main Cancer Drugs Fund which will start from April next year.”


Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said:

"The UK is a world leader in researching and developing innovative medicines to improve health and save lives. The swift uptake of new treatments within the NHS is vital so patients can benefit, and I welcome Professor Richards’ recommendation that we need to do more to achieve this.

“Sustaining the rapid adoption of new advances is also important to promote research and development by the life sciences industry. Through the Office for Life Sciences, my department is committed to working with the Department of Health to ensure that the changes we are making to the NHS deliver both health and economic benefits.”


In taking forward the work of the White Paper, the Government will be seeking the views of healthcare professionals, patients, carers and the public to engage them in taking control of their NHS. The consultation on proposals for the Cancer Drugs Fund from April 2011 will be launched later this year.








Contacts:


NDS Enquiries


Phone: For enquiries please contact the above department

Email: ndsenquiries@coi.gsi.gov.uk




Notes to editors:


The White Paper Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, was published on 12 July 2010 and set out the Government’s strategy for the NHS.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsand ... /DH_117353


Professor Sir Mike Richards’ report International Variations of Drug Usage can be found at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsand ... /DH_117962
The £50 million funding will be available from October 2010.
For more information please contact the Department of Health press office on 020 7210 5221

[Rose Woodward]

Hi all,

Mike Richards' full report on the Extent and causes of international variations in drug usage is now on the DH website, as below.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/gro ... 117963.pdf

[Jackie]

From a telephone conversation with Macmillan yesterday and this morning it would appear that this fund may not be all we are expecting. The Lancet have produced a report that says they are not happy with the way this money is being released and Channel 4 are doing a programme later today (sorry I do not have times for this ) on the fund and how it may or may not work for cancer patients. It is felt there is likely to be another post code lottery when it is released and we may have further problems accessing drugs/treatments even after the fund is available.

When Macmillan email me with further info I will post it on here asap. I have also been told that Macmillan are doing further campaigning in the coming months for rarer cancer sufferers to access the treatments they need, details to follow when I know more........
Jackie.

[Jackie]

An emergency cancer fund planned by the Government to increase access to expensive life-prolonging treatments for patients is in danger of being overwhelmed unless drug manufacturers cut their prices, a report says today.


Cancer drugs can cost tens of thousands of pounds for each patient and pharmaceutical companies should be required to agree a "cost cap", limiting the total amount they can earn from the NHS for a particular treatment, according to the Rarer Cancers Foundation (RCF).

Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, announced last week that the Government would allocate £50m to the emergency fund from next October, and an expected £200m a year from next April. The fund will pay for medicines that can extend life by a few months or improve quality of life, but which may have been rejected by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) as too expensive.

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It will also cover drugs currently used off-label by clinicians to treat conditions not covered by the medicine's licence, or those which have yet to be assessed by Nice.

But in a report published today the RCF says it is vital the Government limits the overall cost of making new treatments available, to prevent the fund running out of cash. Costs could rise as high as £330m a year if every available cancer treatment which physicians wished to prescribe were made available, it says.

In that event, thousands of patients could end up being denied drugs under the new scheme and access could depend on where they lived, creating a new postcode lottery.

Andrew Wilson, chief executive of the RCF, said: "Successive governments have made important advances in making cancer treatments available. Now drug companies must do their bit."

The warning comes as The Lancet attacked the principle behind the fund accusing the Government of "political opportunism" and "intellectual incoherence."

In an editorial the medical journal says the fund not only undermines Nice – set up to promote equity in the allocation of drugs for use on the NHS – but also undermines "the entire concept of a rational and evidence-based approach to the allocation of finite healthcare resources."

It says Mr Lansley used a report showing Britain came 12th in a European league table for access to cancer drugs as justification for launching the fund.

But the same report showed Britain came 13th for drugs for multiple sclerosis and 11th for drugs for dementia.

"Presumably, emergency funds for dementia and multiple sclerosis drugs will be announced in due course – anything else would be intellectually indefensible," The Lancet editorial says.

According to the RCF, Nice has rejected, or said it is minded to reject, 10 cancer treatments since the general election in May, which could now be made available to patients who apply to the emergency fund. It estimates the average cost of a new cancer drug at almost £21,000 per patient. In the current year, an estimated 2,000 patients are likely to benefit from the £50m fund.

Yesterday, the Department of Health said no final decisions on how much the cancer drugs fund would be worth would be made until the spending review in the autumn.

A spokesperson for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said: "The UK currently has amongst the lowest prices in Europe for medicines, we spend less of our GDP on medicines compared to the European average and our use of newer cancer treatments lags behind the rest of Europe. We welcome all initiatives which are aimed at enabling doctors to prescribe the medicines they believe will benefit their patients across all disease areas."

[Joanne]

Hi Rose & Julia

This is brilliant news!

Jo xx