Around 900 cancer patients a year could now benefit from treatment with a trio of medicines just added to England’s Cancer Drugs Fund, a cash pot of £200 million a year designed to offer access to medicines not routinely funded by the NHS.
Patients will have the chance to access albumin bound paclitaxel (Celgene’s Abraxane), bevacizumab (Roche’s Avastin) and cabozantinib (Exelixis’ Cometriq) on the NHS if their doctor believes them to be the most appropriate treatment.
Up to 800 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer could be eligible to receive albumin bound paclitaxel, in combination with the drug gemcitabine, according to NHS England.
The treatment can potentially increase life expectancy by around two months, for an average cost of over £10,627 (for four 28-day cycles of treatment).
Bevacizumab (Avastin) will be used to treat low grade glioma in children to try and delay the need for radiotherapy until the patient is older and less likely to develop side effects to radiotherapy.
It is thought that up to 75 patients a year could stand to benefit from this treatment, which costs £582.38 per 14 day cycle, with a year of treatment normally given.
Cabozantinib will be used to treat medullary thyroid cancer in up to 30 patients every year as an alternative, in certain patients, to another drug already approved by the CDF.
It may extend progression free survival by around seven months. However, the drug is still awaiting regulatory approval and pricing confirmation, NHS England stressed.
