The United Kingdom’s (UK) Department of Health has pledged £250 million toward a Cancer Drugs Fund that will pay for new treatments not available in the state-funded health system. An initial £50 million will provide interim coverage for the financial gap from now until next April; £200 million will then be spent over the next 3 years. These funds are intended to pay for therapies that may not have been approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), including bevacizumab (Avastin), lapatinib (Tyverb), and sorafenib (Nexavar). This may be the last hurrah for NICE, however; the UK’s new coalition government plans to strip the agency of its power to reject drugs in 2014.
