The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) was set up in 2010 to give patients access to innovative medicines at the point of discovery. It has been hugely successful in improving outcomes for patients in England and over 76,000 people have benefited from the Fund. As a result, the UK has gone up in the ranking in Europe from 10th place to 7th place in terms of access to cancer medicines.
The latest de-listings that are happening are because there is such a huge clinical and patient led demand for these medicines and as a result the Fund has been overspent.
The decision means that up to 10,000 new patients may no longer have access to medicines currently available on the CDF. Fortunately patients who are currently being treated or are due start treatment up until November will still have access to these treatments.
The CDF has run out of money but was never intended to be a long-term solution to how NHS England provides medicines to patients. And that is why the pharmaceutical company Roche is today calling for reform to make sure there is a sustainable, pragmatic and a flexible way for patients to have access to these medicines.
As the world’s largest investor in healthcare research and development and the largest manufacturer of cancer medicines it’s important that Roche use their expertise, knowledge and innovation to help fix the system to make sure all new medicines can actually get to patients
Comment on decision by NHS England to remove medicines from the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF)
“We all recognise that the CDF has been successful by ensuring people with cancer in England have access to the same treatments as people across Europe. As we have said previously, this second round of de-listing speaks to the need to reform the CDF, and we are ready to play our part in ensuring this happens. We need to work together to put in place a pragmatic, flexible and sustainable system – one that puts patients first and one that works for clinicians, government, NHS, patient groups and companies. We have always known the CDF was never meant to be a long-term approach to funding cancer medicines. Although we understand its financial pressures, patients should not be denied access to innovative and clinically effective medicines.”
Deborah Lancaster, Director, Roche Products Limited
“A stop and start approach to providing access to highly-innovative, life-changing cancer medicines is of deep concern to patients. As a leader in oncology, we have a responsibility to patients to work tirelessly to ensure there is sustainable access to our medicines. We have worked hard during this second review to safeguard access to all four Roche medicines currently funded through the CDF. Although only two of our medicines were selected for re-review, Roche offered NHS England £15 million of savings, including on medicines not considered for the review, to protect all patients at risk of losing access. Nothing in the clinical effectiveness of our medicines has changed since NHS England last reviewed them in January. No matter how much of a saving we offer, some medicines will not be retained on the CDF list from November due to NHS England’s review criteria.
Roche will not give up on people with cancer. In the last three years alone, Roche has made five cancer medicines available to patients in the UK. We also currently have over 30 medicines in our pipeline which will hopefully be made available over the next 10 years. Moreover, we invest more than £6.2bn in R&D each year[i] to ensure that people continue to benefit from innovative, life-extending treatments now and in the future. However, access to these medicines will only be achieved with long-term reform so that they can be assessed in a pragmatic, flexible and sustainable way.”
Dr. Daniel Thurley, Medical Director, Roche Products Limited
