England’s Cancer Drugs Fund is merely papering over the cracks of a system which is no longer fit for purpose, the government has been told.

The CDF should remain until a workable alternative is found, but a long-term, UK-wide solution is needed to the problem of lack of routine access to life-extending drugs – and “not a series of sticking plasters,” says Chris Askew, chief executive of charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

“In the last year alone, three promising drugs for secondary breast cancer have been rejected for routine use on the NHS due to their high cost,” he said, adding that with no CDF in place in Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland, patients there are being denied the drugs they need.

Mr Askew was speaking at Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s annual parliamentary reception, at which the charity presented calls for action as part of its Demand a Fair Price campaign, which claims that the inflated prices being set for life-extending drug treatments are creating a barrier which no regulatory system can overcome.

For more details, go to: http://www.pharmatimes.com/Article/14-10-29/Cancer_Drugs_Fund_is_papering_over_the_cracks_say_campaigners.aspx