NICE believes that the Cancer Drugs Fund should be aligned with its cost-effectiveness processes, after the government recently announced a major change in how the Fund will be run.

The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) has since March 2011 injected an extra £200 million a year into the NHS to pay for new oncology products not recommended by NICE, or under appraisal by the watchdog.

But in August the government announced it was having to add another £80 million to this pot each year until the Fund ends in April 2016.

This is because the current investment wasn’t enough to sustain the rising level of cancer drug costs, and the number of people with the disease accessing these treatments.

As a result, NHS England said it would for the first time also need to assess the price of the medicines passing through the Fund. It has not said how this will be done, but NICE believes it is the natural choice for this role.

Speaking to a group of Health Select Committee cross-Party MPs yesterday afternoon, Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE, said: “There is currently a misalignment between how much we at NICE say the NHS should pay for new cancer drugs, and how much the CDF says.

For more details, go to: http://www.pharmafile.com/news/193712/nice-cancer-drugs-fund-must-use-our-processes?