UK Cancer Drug Fund de-lists 17 costly drugs

On Friday, NHS England announced the de-listing of expensive cancer drugs, in the wake of an “overspent” Cancer Drugs Fund. In total, 17 cancer drugs for 25 different indications will no longer be paid for in future, effective November.

The Fund was launched as a £200 million-a-year fund in 2011, but by January this year it was on course to reach £380 million ($586 million) a year. The government announced more money, which has brought it to £340 million a year, but NHS England at the same time moved to shrink the list, noted The Guardian newspaper. The decision means that, in total, two thirds of all treatments which were paid for by the scheme will no longer be paid for by the National Health Service.

Drugs that will no longer be funded include Roche’s (ROG: SIX) Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine) for advanced breast cancer, costing £90,000 annually per patient, and its Avastin (bevacizumab) for many bowel and breast cancer patients, Celgene’s (Nasdaq: CELG) Revlimid (lenalidomide) and Imnovid (pomalidomide) for multiple myeloma, and Abraxane (albumin-bound paclitaxel), the first treatment for pancreatic cancer in 17 years. Roche produced  a video explaining the cuts.