New cancer medicines: Joint working between the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry

NECDAG: A brief overview

The meeting was opened by Ken Bremner, Chief Executive Officer, Sunderland Hospitals, and Chair of NECDAG.

Mr Bremner outlined the history of NECDAG, explaining how media pressure, patient campaigns against postcode prescribing and lack of access to drugs (including, for example, pemetrexed and trastuzumab) had forced its formation.

In response to the public, the Northeast NHS Chief Executives had worked together to encourage the individual cancer networks to form a regional drugs approval body that could make decisions about non-National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) approved drugs for the whole local population of 3.2 million, thereby ensuring consistency of access to medicines across the northeast.

While NECDAG has achieved a great deal since its inception, including approving drugs like temozolomide, erlotinib and sunitinib all at least 12 months before they received a positive NICE approval, the group has also faced numerous challenges, such as those raised by the introduction of patient access schemes (PASs) and the NICE end-of-life ruling. Ultimately, while groups like NECDAG have an important role to play at the moment, it is hoped that NICE will soon be in a position to assess drugs in a more timely manner. At that point, the need for a group like NECDAG would cease to exist.

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