Government to fast-track lifesaving drugs
Patients suffering serious illnesses will have access to lifesaving drugs more quickly, under new government proposals announced today.
The plans will allow the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) to assess new drugs within eight weeks, so they can be made available to patients faster than at present.
It currently takes an average of 14 months for new drugs to be assessed and awarded a licence.
The single technology appraisal (STA) system will be used to fast-track drugs that have already been licensed, and to assess new drugs.
However, critics say patients could still be refused access to life-saving drugs because their primary care trusts (PCTs) may not be able to afford to offer the treatment.
Health minister Jane Kennedy said today there would be no extra money for Nice or PCTs to pay for the new process or the costs of making the drugs widely available to people who needed them most.
Breast cancer drug Herceptin – which has been the centre of controversy as it has yet to be licensed for use on women with early-stage breast cancer – will be one of the first drugs to be pushed through the new fast-track system, as will two other potentially lifesaving breast cancer drugs.
Ms Kennedy said she was “confident” Nice could step up the new challenges of the STA process with its “planned” resources.
However, others believe more funding is the only way that the new system can work effectively.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Steve Webb, said: “With more and more new drugs being developed, Nice is being asked to do more work.
“Meanwhile its funding has actually been cut by this government. Ministers must guarantee that Nice will have the cash to implement this new faster process.”
Others are concerned about the effect the current backlog of drugs waiting to be approved will have on the new system.
Charity CancerBACUP said it should be made “crystal clear” that doctors could prescribe licensed cancer drugs immediately – instead of waiting for the go-ahead from Nice.
Head of CancerBACUP Joanne Rule said: “These proposals represent a bold reform package for the future but they don’t solve the problem of the backlog of new cancer treatments currently held up at Nice.
“Nice should issue interim guidance on cancer treatments already approved for use in Scotland, and it’s crucial that the government make it crystal clear that doctors can prescribe licensed cancer drugs now.”
She added: “Until Nice issues guidance there will be post-code prescribing, but we cannot accept no prescribing of new cancer treatments.”
