ABPI criticizes Cancer Drugs Fund reform

Patient access to cancer medicines in the UK will be significantly hampered under the reformed Cancer Drug Fund (CDF), according to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

The organization, which represents innovative, research-based biopharmaceutical companies, was responding to NHS England’s decision yesterday (February 25) to approve proposals to implement a ‘managed access fund’, whereby drugs would be given a conditional recommendation by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), enabling their use by the CDF until further evidence becomes available.

But the pharmaceutical industry expressed fears during the consultation that the proposals were doomed to fail unless there was an overhaul of the way the NICE assesses cancer medicines.