The NHS has announced the drugs which are being removed from the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) along with the planned increases in the fund's budget.
The NHS has announced the drugs which are being removed from the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF)along with the planned increases in the fund's budget.
The review was announced in December 2014 with cost effectiveness being a factor for the first time.
A review of the drugs currently available decided that of the 84 drugs currently available from the CDF 59 will continue to next year and two new drugs will be approved for use with three cancers.
Patients who are currently receiving a drug through the CDF will continue to receive it whether or it is part of the CDF in the future, and applications can be made for other drugs to be available through the CDF in exceptional circumstances.
The criteria for assessment included clinical benefit, survival and quality of life, the level of unmet need and median cost per patient.
Where cost was a factor which would cause a drug to be excluded manufacturers were given an opportunity to reduce their prices.
The new drugs to be added are Panitumumab, a treatment for bowel cancer and Ibrutinib which will be used for Mantle cell lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and for use in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
Drugs to be removed include Lapatinib which is used for the treatment of breast cancer and Aflibercept which is used in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.
The CDF's budget will increase to about £340m from April 2015, an increase of 70% since August 2014, the removal of drugs and negotiation of lower prices is estimated to have produced savings of about £80m.
Professor Peter Clark, chair of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) and a practising oncologist, said: "We have been through a robust, evidence-based process to ensure the drugs available offer the best clinical benefit, getting the most for patients from every pound.
"There were drugs that did not offer sufficient clinical benefit so we simply cannot go on funding those. There were others that offered some benefit but were costly and I am pleased that a number of pharmaceutical firms worked with us to make prices more affordable, saving millions of pounds that can now be reinvested in other treatments.
He continued: "These are difficult decisions, but if we don't prioritise the drugs that offer the best value, many people could miss out on promising, more effective treatments that are in the pipeline."
