Graham Brady is today calling for a long-term solution for funding life-extending medicines currently available through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF).
New data on the use of the CDF presented by the Rarer Cancers Foundation at a parliamentary event on Monday 24 June highlighted the positive impact of the Cancer drugs Fund (CDF). It has enabled patients to gain timely access to life-extending cancer treatment recommended by their doctors, but not routinely available on the NHS.
Since its introduction in October 2010, the CDF has enabled 30,000 patients to access medicines they would not otherwise have received[i]. The Fund has helped to give patients the treatments they need – regional panels administering the CDF up to April 2013 approved more than 100 different indications for funding[ii]. However, the CDF is only temporary and the current arrangements will come to an end in March 2014.
The CDF was brought in as a bridge to value-based pricing due to be introduced for new drugs once the current pricing agreement – the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) – expires at the end of 2013. However, no agreement has been reached on value-based pricing and there are few details on how the system might work. What is known, however, is that the new pricing system will apply primarily to new active substances licensed from 2014 onwards and will therefore have limited impact on treatments currently made available through the CDF.
The RCF has estimated that in the absence of the CDF, or a viable alternative solution, 16,000 patients a year would be denied access to treatments their doctors want to prescribe. A return to the situation which existed prior to the CDF is not acceptable. This would force patients, often at the end of their lives, to pay for their treatments themselves, if they can afford it.
Speaking at the cross-party event attended by parliamentarians, patients and charity representatives, Graham Brady said: “The Cancer Drugs Fund was only intended to be a temporary fix to a more fundamental problem, but it has proved a successful one. It has benefitted thousands of cancer patients in need of life-extending or life-enhancing treatments, including some in my constituency. It is important that a long-term solution is identified which ensures that cancer patients are able to get access to those treatments recommended by their clinician.
Andrew Wilson, Chief Executive, Rarer Cancers Foundation said: “Given the ongoing uncertainty about the impact of the new pricing system on patients’ access to medicines, we are calling for an interim solution to safeguard access to these treatments until a robust process is established that enables CDF-funded medicines to transition to the new system once it is shown to work for cancer medicines.”
References
[i] House of Commons Hansard, 11 June 2013, c153
[ii] National Cancer Action Team, Cancer Drugs Fund bulletin – August 2012, August 2012