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NHS England has launched its new Innovative Medicines Fund (IMF). This fund is for the early access to ‘potentially life-saving’ new treatments, and builds upon the current Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF).
The IMF will be used to fast-track promising new drugs to patients with any condition, including those with rare and genetic diseases, who need them. It will not only be used for access to cancer drugs.
Patients will be able to gain early access to the most clinically promising treatments when further data is needed to support the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) final recommendations.
It will operate in the same way as the CDF, giving NICE another option besides making an immediate decision about routine availability on the NHS for new drugs. In addition to the £340m fund in the existing CDF, the IMF will have an additional £340m in funding, meaning a total of £680m being ring-fenced for fast access to innovative drugs.
