Government spend on cancer drugs and impact on uptake

We know that the NHS lags significantly behind other European countries in the amount of money we spend on cancer drugs.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry estimates that UK per capita spending on cancer medicines currently stands at just 60% of the European average. Despite a 90 per cent increase in prescribing of oncology medicines in the UK from 2002-2006, we still fail to keep pace with other countries which saw an average increase of 107 per cent over the same period.

In September 2006, UK spending on cancer medicines was £10.13 per capita, compared with an overall European average of £16.01. By 2006 rates, additional investment of £403m a year would be necessary for the UK to achieve the existing average per capita expenditure on cancer medicines in 11 comparable European countries.

Data also show that UK spending on new cancer therapies (those within five years of licensing) is still far behind the rest of Western Europe. Major cancer medicines are still being prescribed in the UK at under two-thirds of the European average, five years after licensing.

We also need to find a way to get healthcare providers to encourage doctors to use these new drugs when treating cancer patients.

An increase in our cancer drug spend so that it is more in line with that of the rest of Europe, combined with a more flexible approach by NICE to its cost-effectiveness threshold, has the potential to improve access to treatment for cancer patients.