The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued a statement saying that patients in NHS England are getting early access to two new promising cancer drugs for lung cancer (pembrolizumab) and sarcoma (olaratumab) after making them available via the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF).

This comes after reform of the NICE appraisal process for cancer drugs in April last year, which gave NICE more flexibility to recommend promising new treatments; NICE can now approve drugs that early studies show are effective, but where additional data on their long-term cost-effectiveness is needed.

Professor Carole Longson, director of the NICE centre for health technology evaluation said: “With the changes that were made to the CDF, we are issuing guidance earlier than any other country in Europe. With companies working closely with us and NHS England we will continue to deliver on our promise to give people fast access to the most effective cancer drugs.”

Read the full statement here