Tag: Lord Clement-Jones

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many cancer medicines launched since June 2015 are available via the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

No new cancer medicines have been added to the national Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) list since June 2015. As part of its work to reprioritise the Fund in 2015-16, NHS England took the decision not to consider new drugs for inclusion on the national CDF list.

NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently consulted on draft proposals for the future direction of the Fund. The consultation outlines a new system, fully integrated into the NICE appraisal process, where the CDF becomes a transitional fund – with clear criteria for entry and exit.

Clinicians continue to be able to apply for cancer drugs not on the national CDF list through the Individual Cancer Drugs Funding Request procedure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-02-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans the Department of Health has to instruct NICE to include a broader assessment of value in its appraisals of cancer medicines.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that provides guidance on the prevention and treatment of ill health and the promotion of good health and social care. NICE is responsible for its own processes and methodology.

In 2014, NICE held a three month consultation on proposals for a wider approach to the assessment of value. The diversity of the responses to NICE’s consultation showed that this is a very complex issue. It is critical that stakeholders continue to have confidence in NICE’s work and the Government agreed with NICE that it should not proceed with making the proposed changes to the way it assesses new medicines at that time.

NICE regularly reviews its processes and methodology and its internationally renowned technology appraisal programme has evolved constantly to meet new challenges. NICE has demonstrated its ability to adapt to changes in the health and care environment, and we expect it will continue to evolve in the future.

NICE most recently consulted on proposed changes to its technology appraisal methods and processes as part of its joint consultation with NHS England on proposals for a new Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF).

The Accelerated Access Review (AAR) is actively engaging with NHS England to ensure alignment between the work of the review on speeding up access for NHS patients to innovative and cost effective new medicines and the CDF. The AAR is looking at the capability of NICE, NHS England and the Department to support innovative pathways for the assessment, adoption and reimbursement of treatments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have had discussions with NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence about whether new medicines not accessible through the Cancer Drugs Fund since June 2015 will be prioritised for early review under the proposed new terms of that Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department has had regular discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England about the future operation of the Cancer Drugs Fund, including arrangements for the assessment of cancer drugs that are not currently available through the Fund.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-02-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy Dataset in the collection of health outcome data from patients receiving cancer medicines paid for by the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

In July 2015, NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) signed a data sharing agreement concerning the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) use, enabling NHS England to provide to PHE details of patients for whom a CDF treatment had been requested by clinicians. This will enable PHE to link information on patients for whom a CDF treatment was requested (from 1 April 2013 onwards) with a range of other data sets.

There is presently no agreement between NHS England and PHE in terms of providing outcome information on patients receiving CDF funded treatments, or other systemic anti-cancer therapies, on a regular basis. However, PHE and NHS England are currently having detailed and productive discussions to establish a dedicated core resource which will provide NHS England with routine and bespoke information and analysis, focusing on both routine chemotherapy and activity data and outcome and quality metrics, which can include outcome analyses on the CDF.

The Accelerated Access Review is looking at ways to better use data on treatments and outcomes from initiatives, such as the CDF, to drive innovation, adoption and reimbursement of novel treatments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on patients of the pause in listing new drugs accessible through the Cancer Drugs Fund introduced in June 2015.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We have made no such assessment.

As part of its work to reprioritise the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) in 2015-16, NHS England took the decision not to consider new drugs for inclusion on the national CDF list.

NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently consulted on draft proposals for the future direction of the Fund. The consultation outlined a new system, fully integrated into the NICE appraisal process, where the CDF becomes a transitional fund – with clear criteria for entry and exit.

Clinicians continue to be able to apply for cancer drugs not on the national CDF list through the Individual Cancer Drugs Funding Request procedure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria NHS England and NICE will apply when deciding on the commercial agreement to be put in place to provide treatment to patients under the conditional approval route in the new Cancer Drugs Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England has advised that it intends to publish new detailed standard operating procedures for the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) by June 2016. These will include any further general details concerning the nature of managed access agreements associated with a drug’s entry into the Fund.

The Accelerated Access Review (AAR) is actively engaging with NHS England to ensure alignment between the work of the review on speeding up access for National Health Service patients to innovative and cost effective new medicines and the CDF. The AAR is looking at the capability of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS England and the Department to support innovative pathways for the assessment, adoption and reimbursement of treatments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many more cancer medicines will be available to patients as a result of the proposals for a revised Cancer Drugs Fund to be effective from 1 April.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We have made no such assessment.

NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently consulted on draft proposals for the future direction of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). The consultation outlines a new system, fully integrated into the NICE appraisal process, where the CDF becomes a transitional fund – with clear criteria for entry and exit. The consultation closed on 11 February 2016.

NHS England has advised that the operational detail of the new scheme will be developed over the coming months, informed by detailed analysis and consideration of the consultation responses received. A new Standard Operating Procedure for the CDF will be published by June 2016. Any changes to the list of available treatments through the Fund as a result of the changes in model will be published in due course.

NHS England has advised that it is optimistic that a greater number of cancer drugs will be funded from baseline commissioning in the future as a consequence of more appropriate pricing arrangements proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and the new CDF being able to address issues as to longer term patient outcomes in order to give such drugs the chance of re-appraisal by NICE with greater certainty as to clinical and cost effectiveness.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what types of commercial agreements NHS England and NICE will be required to consider as part of the conditional approval route in the new Cancer Drugs Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England has advised that it intends to publish new detailed standard operating procedures for the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) by June 2016. These will include any further general details concerning the nature of managed access agreements associated with a drug’s entry into the Fund.

The Accelerated Access Review (AAR) is actively engaging with NHS England to ensure alignment between the work of the review on speeding up access for National Health Service patients to innovative and cost effective new medicines and the CDF. The AAR is looking at the capability of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS England and the Department to support innovative pathways for the assessment, adoption and reimbursement of treatments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many patients they expect to benefit from the latest cancer medicines as a result of the proposals for a revised Cancer Drugs Fund to be effective from 1 April.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We have made no such assessment.

NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently consulted on draft proposals for the future direction of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). The consultation outlines a new system, fully integrated into the NICE appraisal process, where the CDF becomes a transitional fund – with clear criteria for entry and exit. The consultation closed on 11 February 2016.

NHS England has advised that the operational detail of the new scheme will be developed over the coming months, informed by detailed analysis and consideration of the consultation responses received. A new Standard Operating Procedure for the CDF will be published by June 2016. Any changes to the list of available treatments through the Fund as a result of the changes in model will be published in due course.

NHS England has advised that it is optimistic that a greater number of cancer drugs will be funded from baseline commissioning in the future as a consequence of more appropriate pricing arrangements proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and the new CDF being able to address issues as to longer term patient outcomes in order to give such drugs the chance of re-appraisal by NICE with greater certainty as to clinical and cost effectiveness.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of NHS England’s and NICE’s capabilities in relation to the commercial negotiations between them and pharmaceutical manufacturers in respect of the conditional approval route under the new Cancer Drugs Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England’s Board agreed, on 25 February 2016, a way forward which will see the proposed new arrangements for the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) going live on 1 July 2016

We expect NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to work together to ensure that both organisations have the necessary capability and capacity to implement these proposals, including the introduction of a conditional approval route.

The Accelerated Access Review (AAR) is actively engaging with NHS England to ensure alignment between the work of the review on speeding up access for NHS patients to innovative and cost effective new medicines and the CDF. The AAR is looking at the capability of NICE, NHS England and the Department to support innovative pathways for the assessment, adoption and reimbursement of treatments.