The government’s accelerated access review will look at whether the principle of the cancer drugs fund could be extended to non-cancer treatments, its chair has said.

  • Government review to look at whether cancer drugs fund could be widened
  • Sir Hugh Taylor will look at other funding models to drive uptake of innovative drugs
  • NHS England could be encouraged to take “more directive” commissioning approach

Sir Hugh Taylor said the review would also consider possible changes to drug pricing and whether NHS England should take a “more directive” approach to commissioning.

Pills and tablets

The review will look at how access to innovative treatments can be improved in the NHS

The independent accelerated access review was launched by life sciences minister George Freeman last year to develop recommendations on how access to innovative medicines and treatments could be improved in the NHS.

It is being led by Sir Hugh, a former permanent secretary at the Department of Health.

Speaking at the Specialised Healthcare Alliance conference last week, Sir Hugh said the review would look at whether the principle of the CDF, which gives patients access to expensive drugs not approved for routine NHS use, could be applied more widely.

He said it was “certainly something that I think will fall to us to consider”.

Sir Hugh said he would “be trying to think of as many ways as I can” to direct more funding towards innovative treatments, but added there would be “absolutely no point doing that if it’s at the expense of something else”.

The review will look other possible funding models to drive innovation, such as “outcome based pricing”, where companies are paid according to the patient outcomes their products achieve, and “annualised pricing”, where companies are reimbursed for therapies delivered across an entire year.

“There are potential approaches… looking at value in a broad sense,” Sir Hugh said. “For example, as we move into new areas of regenerative medicine it may be possible to do things which are more curative and therefore would reduce healthcare cost for a patient over a long period.”

The pharmaceutical price regulation scheme, under which drugs companies pay rebates to the NHS for expenditure on branded drugs above a certain level, is not within the review’s terms of reference.

However, Sir Hugh said this would not prevent it “opining in a way that might set up some of the debate for the next PPRS round”.

To tackle the problem of effective new treatments encountering “resistance within the NHS”, he said a “more directive approach to commissioning” could be the answer.

This would involve NHS England investing in NHS providers on the condition that they participate in the “early uptake of medicines and technologies” while “decommissioning” outmoded treatments.

The accelerated access review is due to conclude at the end of this year, with an interim report expected in the autumn. A new website was launched last week for people to contribute.

Topics