30 July 2016 - The NHS has announced new potentially life-saving medicines that will be made available to patients as part of the revamped Cancer Drugs Fund.

The previous fund was closed amid fears spiralling costs had made it unsustainable. The fund, which has been overhauled, fast tracks cancer drugs which are not yet routinely available to patients but show potential.

NHS England said the four new drugs available will benefit 4,500 patients and speed up access to them by up to four months.

The new drugs are ceritinib for the treatment of lung cancer, dabrafenib and trametinib as combination therapy for the treatment of melanoma, and ipilimumab and nivolumab, which are also used as combination treatment for melanoma.

Trifluridine and tipiracil will also be available for the treatment of bowel cancer.

The existing drugs bosutinib, used to tackle chronic myeloid leukaemia, and pemetrexed for lung cancer, will also receive CDF funding before moving over into routine commissioning in the coming months.

The new Cancer Drugs Fund has a fixed budget of £340 million and new provisions to oversee expenditure, and if costs go over pharmaceutical companies will pick up the bill.

The NHS said it will work closely with the pharmaceutical industry "to encourage the responsible pricing of cancer drugs" in a bid to keep costs under control.

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