Cancer patients in England will no doubt welcome news that three new drugs can now be accessed on the National Health Service through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF).

The latest update to the Fund has seen the inclusion of Roche's Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine) for breast cancer, Bayer's Xofigo (radium-223) for prostate cancer and GlaxoSmithKline's Tafinlar (dabrafenib) for unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

A spokesperson for Roche told PharmaTimes World News the move means that "around 1,290 women in England with one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer could be eligible to receive treatment with Kadcyla as soon as it is launched, which is welcome news for patients".  

The CDF provides an extra £200 million each year to so that cancer patients in England can access drugs that are not routinely funded by their local NHS. Cancer specialists update the list regularly to ensure uniform and speedy access to the latest and most innovative medicines.

“Better access to effective medicine is a priority for the government, and we are delighted that these new drugs will mean more patients will join over 38,000 cancer sufferers who have already benefitted from the fund," noted Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The Fund was set to originally set to expire in 2014 but an additional cash pot of $400 million was put up by the government to keep it going until March 2016.

The Rarer Cancers Foundation expects that it will benefit more than 33,000 patients in just two years.