Posted by Michael Wonder on 07 Apr 2018
New drugs: patient hope or harm?
26 March 2018 - Debate on whether new drugs are too expensive for the NHS continues to rage, and contradictory news stories reflect the polarisation.
Innovative drugs are either great news for patients in the NHS, offering them new hope, or a waste of resources—depending on whom you listen to.
National media coverage of new treatments certainly gives both sides of the argument. In the Times newspaper on 12 March, two stories appeared side by side with the headlines “Cutting-edge NHS drugs do more harm than good” and “UK behind on cancer guidelines.”
The first story claimed that spending on new drugs was little more than a diversion of critical funds from elsewhere in the NHS, while the second argued that patients were missing out because the UK was behind other parts of Europe in recommending use of new cancer drugs.
