- Fund put people at risk of side effects as medicine was not assessed, experts say
- Project set up by David Cameron in 2010 to provide drugs not approved on NHS
- Over six years 100,000 people in England gained access to medicines
Ben Spencer Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail
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A special fund to provide cancer drugs on the NHS was poor value for money and did not help patients, experts have claimed.
The Cancer Drugs Fund, which spent nearly £1.3billion of taxpayers’ cash on medicines between 2010 and 2016, even put people at risk of side effects because the drugs were not properly assessed, they said.
Charities last night hit back at the analysis, which was published in the Annals of Oncology journal.
A special fund to provide cancer drugs on the NHS was poor value for money and did not help patients, experts have claimed (file photo)
They said while it was not perfect, the fund had a ‘totally transformational impact’ on patients, extending their lives and giving them ‘extra time with their loved ones’.
The fund was set up by then prime minister David Cameron to provide drugs not routinely approved on the NHS. Over six years 100,000 people in England gained access to medicines that they would have not have otherwise received.
The £1.27billion cost was equivalent to the amount spent on all cancer drugs in one year by the NHS.
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The fund has since been taken over by NHS watchdog NICE, which is reassessing all drugs on the scheme. But academics led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said the fund had been fundamentally flawed.
Researchers examined 29 drugs available through the fund in January 2015 for 47 different cancer types. They concluded the majority of the treatments were ‘based on studies that reported minimal to no benefit in survival.’ Little more than a third of cancer types had research showing any improvement to a patient’s lifespan.
The typical overall survival benefit for these drugs was an extra 3.1 months. But when quality of life and toxic side effects were analysed, the majority of drugs failed to show any evidence of clinical benefit.
The Cancer Drugs Fund was set up by former prime minister David Cameron to provide drugs not routinely approved on the NHS
FORCED TO DIE IN A HOSPITAL
Tens of thousands of terminally ill cancer patients are dying in hospital against their wishes, a report warns today.
Almost four in ten spend their final moments in hospital, even though only 1 per cent would have chosen to do so.
Experts say doctors and nurses are unwilling to broach the ‘taboo’ topic of death and ask patients where they want to be when the time comes.
A report by Macmillan estimates 62,000 cancer patients in the UK a year die in hospital, 38 per cent of the total. But 64 per cent said they would prefer to spend their final hours in the comfort of their own homes.
Macmillan chief executive Lynda Thomas encouraged people to talk openly about plans for their death. NHS England said the UK ranked highly for end of life care.
‘We conclude the Cancer Drugs Fund has not delivered meaningful value to patients or society,’ said the researchers, also from King’s College London.
However, experts pointed out that NICE has since reassessed many of the drugs on the old CDF, judging them to be good value for money.
Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, said: ‘For many living with incurable breast cancer, the CDF had a totally transformational impact on their lives, offering significant and precious extra time with loved ones.’ But she described it as a ‘sticking plaster’ and called for more reform.
A Conservative spokesman said: ‘The Cancer Drugs Fund is a policy that has given more than 100,000 people access to the latest drugs, meaning the chance of precious extra time with their families.’
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