Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-07-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had about patients’ access to rare cancer medicines that have received a marketing authorisation after the closure of the old Cancer Drugs Fund list and before the launch of the new Cancer Drugs Fund on 29 July, but that have not yet been approved by NICE.

Lord Prior of Brampton

All cancer drugs licensed since July 2015, but unable to undergo assessment by the Cancer Drug Fund (CDF) in 2015-16 on account of its closure to new drugs, have been incorporated into the technology appraisal work programme of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

In addition, NHS England has advised that for all of the indications covered by these newly licensed cancer drugs, there already exist treatment options for patients that are either funded from baseline commissioning or from the CDF.