Secondary Metastatic Breast Cancer

Baroness Manzoor Excerpts

Tuesday 9th May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Manzoor (Con)]

My Lords, the audits are very welcome, but nevertheless there is great variation in the way in which innovative drugs are being given to some patients. With the prognosis being much better with new, innovative drugs and treatments, what access is particularly given to those patients?

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to supporting timely access for NHS patients to clinically effective and cost-effective new drugs, including for breast cancer. NICE is able to recommend the vast majority of cancer medicines that it appraises. It has also made positive recommendations in all 19 of its appraisals of breast cancer treatments since 2016. This track record has been made possible by the cancer drugs fund, which has benefited more than 88,000 patients as of March 2023, with 102 medicines treating 241 different cancers having received funding. The CDF has enabled breast cancer patients to access promising new medicines such as Enhertu and Ibrance, while allowing for the collection of further data on their clinical and cost effectiveness.