Thousands get unapproved cancer drugs

NHS reforms have been hugely unpopular Thousands of cancer patients could be given access to breakthrough treatments that are not yet available in Britain.Those who have exhausted every option would be offered a 'last chance' by trying drugs a year before doctors are allowed to prescribe them.
David Cameron wants to speed up the time it takes between a life-extending treatment being invented and it being given to the sickest patients.
The process can take up to 20 years, but today the Prime Minister will announce plans for an 'early-access scheme' that would enable drugs to be fast-tracked through months of bureaucracy.
The Government insisted that this would not mean bypassing safety checks or putting patients at risk.
It is hoped that the system will especially benefit patients with brain tumours, lung cancers or other rarer forms of cancer, for which there are very few drugs available.
Last month a report showed that survival rates for brain, lung, stomach and pancreatic cancer had barely improved since the 1970s, with most patients not living beyond a year.
At present, all new drugs must first be approved by either the European Medicine's Evaluation Agency (EMEA), which regulates drugs across the EU, or the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK watchdog, before they can be prescribed in Britain.
This process can take more than a year. Firms have to submit data proving the treatment is both highly effective and safe which is then scrutinised by various panels.
Even when a drug has been given the green light, it must be approved by NICE, the rationing body, before it can be prescribed to patients on the NHS. This can take another 18 months.
And if NICE deems the treatment too costly it will be available only to patients who pay privately or those who secure funding from the Cancer Drugs Fund.
But under the early access scheme, the MHRA will provisionally recommend certain drugs that have not yet been through the lengthy approval process.
Patients and their doctors will be given detailed information about the treatment so that they can decide whether they want to use it.
If they agree, the patients would be given the drug free on the NHS.
It is not clear whether patients would have to sign disclaimer forms meaning that they could not sue hospitals or doctors if they suffer any side-effects.
Ministers hope that the new system will also encourage more drugs firms, particularly smaller companies, to develop new treatments.
Under the current system, many will incur a huge financial loss while a drug that has cost them millions to develop is scrutinised by the regulator.
So the sooner they can make up this deficit by selling their drug to the NHS or private patients, the better.
A few patients can already benefit from drugs which are not yet available in Britain by taking part in clinical trials, but this is dependent on whether their doctor knows about the drugs.
More than a year after the Cancer Drugs Fund was set up, some doctors are still not aware that it exists.
Patients have told a study by Macmillan Cancer Support that they found out about the money – set aside to pay for treatments turned down by NICE – only after doing their own research on the internet.
The report also reveals that nearly 200 patients dying of cancer were denied funding even though almost half of the £50million pot for October 2010 to April 2011 was not touched.
A further £200million has been made available for the year from April 2011.
Mike Hobday of Macmillan, who co-wrote the report, said: 'We are really pleased that the Cancer Drugs Fund has helped improve access for thousands of patients who have struggled to get hold of the drugs they and their doctors believe will be effective in treating or controlling their cancer.
'But it is concerning that there are still regional disparities and we  want the Department of Health to look into this.'