The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) provides:

• an early funding source, via interim funding agreements (IFA), for treatments that receive a provisional positive recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), without them having to wait for NICE final guidance to be published, and subsequent entry into the routine commissioning system
• a source of funding, via managed access agreements (MAA), for treatments that show clinical promise and where further data collection is needed to resolve uncertainty around their effectiveness.

Since the new approach to funding cancer drugs began in July 2016, approximately 102,114 patients have been registered to receive treatment with 116 drugs treating 279 different cancer indications*. Of these patients, over 23,500 have benefitted from earlier access to treatments through IFA. In addition, over 63,000 patients have been able to access new treatments because of MAA we have negotiated with companies, at significantly discounted prices to the NHS, whilst further data is collected. This data informs a future NICE technology appraisal*.

* Based on all notifications received since the beginning of the July 2016 to September 2024.

60 MAAs have been agreed between companies and the CDF since July 2016. 37 MAA treatments have been re-appraised by NICE, with additional clinical trial and real-world data from the National Disease Registration Service, as part of the CDF exit process. 32 (86.5%) of these treatments have been recommended for routine commissioning in the patient population that was referred to the CDF. This demonstrates the benefit of allowing earlier access for patients to promising new cancer drugs while further data is collected to evaluate their effectiveness. 2 MAA treatments were not approved for routine use on review. The CDF reviews for 2 MAA treatments were terminated as the company did not provide a complete evidence submission for the respective reappraisals. One MAA was terminated prior to a NICE CDF review as the products license was withdrawn and NICE withdrew its guidance for use in the CDF.

9 MAAs have now completed their data collection arrangements with updated guidance expected to be published in the next 12 months. 

Cancer Drugs Fund patient notifications* – quarter 1 to quarter 4, 2023/24

During the 2023/24 financial year, 8,543 patients were newly notified to the CDF.

Table 1 provides a summary of monthly notifications for 2023/24, broken down by category.

Table 1: Cancer Drugs Fund notifications April 2023 to March 2024

* The number of patients notified to receive treatment. This may differ from the number of patients who receive treatment. This figure does not include patients previously notified, whose treatment continues.

Table 1 shows:

• Interim funding agreements for: April – 282, May – 374, June – 283, July – 197, August – 160, September – 136, October – 191, November – 307, December – 320, January – 338, February – 171, March – 206. Total – 2965
• Managed access agreements for: April – 527, May – 659, June – 552, July – 507, August – 492, September – 362, October – 408, November – 425, December – 348, January – 462, February – 434, March – 402. Total – 5578
• Total number of interim funding agreements and managed access agreements for: April – 809, May – 1,033, June – 835, July – 704, August – 652, September – 498, October – 599, November – 732, December – 668, January – 800, February – 605, March – 608. Overall total – 8543

Cancer Drugs Fund spend – quarter 1 to quarter 4, 2023/2024

At the end of the second quarter of the 2023/24 financial year, the CDF was operating within its funding envelope.

Table 2: Cancer Drugs Fund expenditure April 2023 to March 2024

 * Only cumulative figures are available to ensure the confidentiality of spend for individual companies as they enter and leave the CDF.

Note: This data is correct at time of publication. The CDF operates on a year-to-date basis so monthly values may change.

Please send any queries about the figures in this report to england.cdfteam@nhs.net