Cancer Drugs Fund must not be forerunner to value-based pricing – EMIG
pharmafile | January 19, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Cancer Drugs Fund, EMIG, Ethical Medicines Industry Group, NHS, value-based pricing
The association representing small to medium UK pharma companies says the forthcoming Cancer Drugs Fund is welcome – but must not distort NHS priorities or be a pilot for a new pricing system for all drugs.
The Ethical Medicines Industry Group (EMIG) has made the remarks in response to the government’s consultation on the Cancer Drugs Fund, the full version of which is set for launch in April this year.
The fund is aimed at giving access to cancer treatments for patients in England who have been deemed not eligible, firstly by NICE guidance and then by normal local NHS decision making.
An interim fund of £50 million has been in place since October 2010, and regional clinician-led committees have begun allocating funds to cancer patients previously denied treatment.
Most of the new cancer drugs – such as Roche’s Avastin – have been developed by ‘big pharma’, and smaller pharma companies may fear their products will get squeezed out if a greater proportion of the NHS drugs budget is spent in this area.
EMIG is just one of the groups being consulted on the creation of the Cancer Drugs Fund, which will have a budget of £200 million a year until 2014. After that time, a new value-based pricing system is set to be introduced, and the government hope its mechanism will mean the Fund will no longer be needed.
EMIG’s chairman Leslie Galloway said today: “We believe that the Cancer Drugs Fund is a positive step which will help to address deficiencies in the current system for cancer patients. However, these deficiencies can also be seen to exist in other disease areas, and it is important that monies allocated to this Fund should not be at the expense of, or lead to, a loss of focus on the need for access to life-changing therapies for other conditions.”
“The patient/clinician relationship is fundamental. EMIG supports the objective of the Fund to provide patients with access to the medicines their clinicians agree are needed to extend or improve life. If the clinician thinks that a treatment will be of benefit to a patient, then EMIG believes the Fund should cover it”.
EMIG is especially concerned that the Fund is being considered as a forerunner or pilot for the development of the UK’s forthcoming value-based pricing system. It says the Cancer Drugs Fund should be seen as an approach to addressing access to medicines issues rather than a mechanism for determining price.
EMIG represents the interests of over 120 small to medium-sized companies (SMEs) based in the UK, ranging from R&D-focused start-ups, to more well-established.
In the UK, 90% of pharmaceutical companies are SMEs. EMIG member companies employ approximately 10,000 people in the UK and have a combined annual turnover of £2 billion.
The consultation on the Cancer Drugs Fund Consultation closes today (Wednesday 19 January).
Andrew McConaghie
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