UK's revamped Cancer Drugs Fund 'will not work'

28 July 2016

The UK’s revamped Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) which comes into force today (July 29) will not work for many modern cancer medicines and could leave patients without access to life saving treatment, according to the world’s largest pharmaceutical company.

US Pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) said that while it has indicated its agreement to proceed with the new arrangements for the fund, it remains concerned that many cancer medicines will still not get to patients.

The original CDF, which closed in March this year, was set up in 2010 to fund cancer drugs that were not available on the NHS. But it became unsustainable after the Department of Health overspent the fund’s £480 million ($630 million) budget for two years between 2013 and 2015 by £167 million.

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