Individual funding requests (IFRs) relating to cancer drugs will no longer be considered via the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) process.

All IFRs relating to cancer drugs will be considered using NHS England’s single, national IFR system, which underwent a public consultation early in 2017.

IFRs are made to NHS England by clinicians when they believe that a patient’s clinical circumstances are exceptional and because of this, they would benefit from a treatment that isn’t usually available on the NHS. Applications are considered by an independent panel made up of doctors, nurses, public health experts, pharmacists, NHS England representatives and lay members.

More information about the NHS England IFR system, and how to apply, can be found on the NHS England website. See also Julia’s opinion piece about the new NHS England IFR system.