NHS England raises budget for Cancer Drugs Fund but axes some products

As has been widely expected and already much criticized, England’s over-stretched Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) has decided to stop the funding of certain oncology treatments but, at the same time, announcing its budget would be increased.

The budget for the NHS England’s CDF will grow from £200 million in 2013/14, to £280 million ($424.2 million) in 2014/15, and an estimated £340 million from April 2015. This represents a total increase of 70% since August 2014, announced late Monday. UK Prime Minister David Cameron set up the CDF, a separate pot of money, in 2010 to give patients access to expensive drugs, irrespective of cost, that had not been endorsed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The CDF review announced yesterday will also create projected savings of around £80 million through a combination of negotiated price reductions and improved clinical effectiveness. If action had not been taken to review the CDF drugs list, the Fund is projected to have grown to around £420 million next year, necessitating offsetting cuts in other aspects of cancer treatment such as radiotherapy, cancer diagnoses, cancer surgery, and other important NHS services for other patient groups, said NHS England.