The NHS has announced that patients could soon be given access to what are described as “game-changing” cancer drugs through a scheme to accelerate access to treatments that target genetic mutations.
PharmaTimes reported on the decision, which could provide hope to patients with rare forms of cancer that have previously been diagnosed as untreatable.
The news provider explained that the difference between these drugs, which are known as tumour agnostic drugs, and traditional cancer therapies, is that the new drugs target tumours based on their genetic composition, rather than where they originate in the body.
This means one drug could have applications for treating patients all suffering from different ‘types’ of cancer, depending on the genetic makeup of their tumours.
NICE has to approve all new cancer drugs for use on the NHS at present. However, once a tumour agnostic drug is approved for use, it wouldn’t be restricted to particular types of cancer and could, therefore, have a wide-reaching impact on patients.
The aim now is to work out how this fast-tracking could be implemented in practice. The Accelerated Access Collaborative is due to meet later this month to discuss the way forward.
Speaking to the news provider, chair of the Accelerated Access Collaborative Lord Darzi said that the announcement was “further evidence that the NHS is open for business and is both willing and able to embrace innovative new treatments at pace”.
It’s hoped that the first of these new agnostic cancer drugs will be available to NHS patients by the end of this year. The first such drugs set to come onto the market later this year target the genetic mutations that increase the rate at which many tumours grow. This means they could be especially beneficial in treating children suffering from cancer.
Lord Darzi stated: “The advent of tumour agnostic drugs marks an important next step in the development of personalised, genomic driven medicine and these plans will be warmly welcomed by patients and the clinical community.”
In October of last year, the Department of Health and Social Care announced that £7 million in funding would be made available for two new programmes designed to support faster access to new treatments and technologies within the NHS.
There were three projects set up to test the use of new technology within healthcare, including a new digital platform to help manage diabetes and using artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the accuracy and efficiency of breast cancer screening.
£2 million of the money was dedicated to “rapid uptake” products. The aim is to use this funding to help patients suffering from a range of conditions including cancer, heart disease and multiple sclerosis to access the latest innovative treatments for these conditions as quickly as possible.
Matt Hancock, secretary of state for health and social care, said that he wants to ensure “NHS patients continue to be the first to benefit from the life-changing treatments developed in this country”.
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