NHS patients are set to benefit from early access to potentially life-saving new medicines, including cutting-edge gene therapies, thanks to a new Innovative Medicines Fund and £680 million of ringfenced funding, the NHS chief executive has announced today. The Innovative Medicines Fund (IMF) will build upon the success of the reformed Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), […]

A five-month old baby has become the first patient to receive a potentially life-saving drug on the NHS that can prevent paralysis and prolong the lives of children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Arthur Morgan, who was diagnosed with SMA earlier this month, received the one-off gene therapy at Evelina London Children’s Hospital on May […]

A world-leading treatment that halves the risk of lung cancer patients suffering a return of the disease after undergoing treatment, is to be rolled out by NHS England. In a trial of the drug – the first of its kind – around nine out of ten patients treated, remained alive and disease-free after two years […]

Dexamethasone, an inexpensive and widely available steroid, has saved around one million lives worldwide since its discovery as an effective treatment for COVID-19 in a clinical trial in the NHS. New figures, published today, show that use of the drug has so far saved 22,000 lives in the UK and an estimated one million worldwide. […]

A life-saving drug that can enable mobility in babies and young children suffering from a rare genetic condition will be available on the NHS, chief executive Sir Simon Stevens announced today. Zolgensma, which has a reported list price of £1.79 million per dose and is labelled the most expensive drug in the world, will be […]

The NHS is to provide GPs an extra £10 for every care home resident they are able to vaccinate against COVID by the end of January in an accelerated drive to protect the most vulnerable. The NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in health service history, is being expanded after regulators approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine yesterday. […]

‘COVID-friendly’ cancer treatments that are safer for patients during the pandemic will be expanded and extended through a £160 million initiative, NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens announced today. The funding will pay for drugs that treat patients without having such a big impact on their immune system or offer other benefits such as fewer […]

Patients are being offered more convenient cancer treatment during the coronavirus pandemic, including chemotherapy buses and the fast track rollout of an innovative and life-saving type of radiotherapy. NHS England has today announced it is accelerating the use of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) which requires fewer doses than standard radiotherapy, cutting the number of hospital […]

At the same time as managing the most serious global health threat in a century, the NHS has struck a deal which will see hundreds of people a year benefit from a ‘game-changing’ new cancer treatment. The new drug, larotrectinib, will initially be used for children, young people and some adults, and targets tumours according […]

NHS England is to fund a life-changing treatment for people with rare conditions causing repeated bouts of fever, joint pains and swelling, in an effort to help a small group of people who ‘suffer in silence’. Periodic fever syndromes (PFS) are a group of rare genetic conditions where the person’s immune system overreacts, resulting in […]