OBJECTIVES: A new approach to the funding of cancer drugs was launched on 29 July 2016, including the reformed Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). The CDF is now a managed access fund operationally managed by NHS England in partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Is the CDF meeting its aim to provide patients with faster access to promising new cancer treatments while ensuring value for money in drugs expenditure?

METHODS: A NICE independent appraisal committee can recommend a treatment for use in the CDF when there is considerable uncertainty in the treatment’s clinical effectiveness that precludes it from routine commissioning. However, the committee would need to conclude that the treatment has the plausible potential to be cost effective and that further data collection could address the clinical uncertainties.

When a treatment is recommended for use in the CDF, a data collection arrangement is agreed between the company, NICE, NHS England and Public Health England. It forms part of a managed access agreement that includes a commercial access agreement to mitigate against the uncertainty and manage the cost to the NHS during data collection. Data are collected through Public Health England’s Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy dataset, ongoing clinical trials, or both. At the end of the managed access agreement, the data collected are used in NICE’s review of the appraisal decision.

RESULTS: By the end of 2017, NICE had made recommendations for use within the CDF in 12 appraisals. Of these, 9 had a clinical trial as the primary data source.

CONCLUSIONS: The CDF is providing early access to promising cancer treatments. The collection of key clinical outcomes alongside treatment access will enable treatments to be appropriately reviewed to ensure they are a cost-effective use of NHS resources.