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Cancer drugs to be fast-tracked into the NHS
Herceptin, the drug for treating breast cancer, is among the first wave of medicines to be rapidly assessed for effectiveness under a new system in order to speed up the introduction of new treatments for use in the NHS.
The Single Technology Appraisal (STA) process will initially be used to produce faster guidance on a number of life-saving anti-cancer drugs, which have already been licensed, and on new medicines as they are licensed.
Launched by the Department of Health and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the new process will first review these products:
- docetaxel (Taxotere) for breast cancer
- paclitaxel (Taxol) for breast cancer
- rituximab (MabThera) for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- trastuzumab (Herceptin) for breast cancer
- bortezomib (Velcade) for multiple myeloma
Some 14 drugs, of which 13 are anti-cancer drugs, already referred to NICE are among those suitable for the new process.
It may mean guidance could be published six to 15 months earlier than originally planned. It is anticipated though that guidance relating to more than half of drugs suitable for this process will be published at least eight months earlier.
The STA process will also enable NICE to issue faster guidance by asking for a single submission of evidence from the drug’s manufacturer, and carrying out an independent assessment of this evidence more quickly.
The first guidance to be issued through the new process may appear as early as next June. Guidance on bortezomib (Velcade) and trastuzumab (Herceptin) (subject to it being granted a licence) will appear shortly after.
NICE chief executive Andrew Dillon said: “The proposals we have set out mean NICE can deal with the current backlog much quicker than planned and that we will be able to issue guidance to the NHS rapidly in the future, once a drug is licensed.”
More on the STA process is available on the NICE website