Patients with life-threatening and seriously debilitating conditions, such as cancer and dementia, will be given early access to new medicines, the health secretary has revealed.
Such patients will be offered "ground-breaking" new drugs years before they would normally reach them under the The Early Access to Medicines scheme.
Doctors will work with patients to make innovative and promising drugs available as soon the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency - the UK's regulator - has signalled that the benefits outweigh the risks following an initial scientific assessment.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "This ground-breaking scheme will provide cutting edge medicines earlier, give hope to patients and their families and save lives."
In addition, the Department of Health has launched a bank of nearly 75,000 medical research volunteers to make it much easier for researchers to recruit people with specific conditions and a family history of conditions into research and trials.
The BioResource project, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and led from Addenbrooke's Hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospital', will focus on heart disease, dementia, infections and rare diseases.
As a result, the process of patient access will be speeded up and new drugs could be made available to patients months or sometimes years before the treatment is licensed, the Department of Health said.
Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, said: "Time is of the essence for many cancer patients, particularly those with more advanced disease. It can mean the difference between life and death. Therefore this scheme, which has at its heart the potential to bring promising new medicines to patients faster, is to be warmly welcomed."
