MP highlights importance of Government announcement
Today the Secretary of State for Health announced that the Government will be introducing a new £50m Cancer Drugs Fund in order to help cancer patients get greater access to appropriate treatments. This will be available from October this year, and will be in addition to the £200m fund which is to be available from April 2011.
John said:
“I welcome this announcement. Any measure that improves access to new drugs that help cancer patients is a positive step, especially as the take-up of new cancer drugs in this country is low relative to our European neighbours. We have much catching up to do.
“During the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer’s inquiry into cancer inequalities, we found that people with rarer cancers were consistently denied effective drug treatments. The hope is that this interim fund will help these patients.”
Ends
Date: 27th July 2010
Word Count: 140
Notes to Editors
1. John is Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer (APPGC)
2. The APPGC recently produced a report into cancer inequalities which can be found at:
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Documents/GetInvolved/Campaigns/APPG/BritainAgainstCancer2009/CancerInequalitiesReport.pdf
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