17.11.16
Seven cancer drugs to become available on NHS after NICE stamp
Patients with cancer will be able to access seven treatments directly on the NHS, instead of applying via the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), after these gained approval from NICE.
NICE has approved seven drugs in CDF group 1, with another four currently under review.
The latest appraisal, Dasatinib, was approved after manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb agreed to offer a revised discount, meaning NICE could approve it as being clinically effective for the NHS.
Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE, said: “Sensible pricing and in some cases better data, is helping to secure access to important cancer medicines as they move out of the old CDF, following reappraisal by NICE.”
He described this as “good news all round for patients”, with CDF funding being freed up for innovative treatments.
The CDF lost the power to prescribe drugs without NICE approval in February after a Public Accounts Committee report found it was financially unsustainable.
Dasatinib will be used for patients with Philadelphia-chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia where imatinib is not suitable.
Around 700 patients a year will be treated with the drug, which will be available from March 2017.
In total, more than 75% of treatments in the CDF which have been looked at again by NICE have received positive recommendations for routine NHS use.
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