More than 20,000 strokes and 5,000 deaths could be averted after NHS England struck new agreements to expand life-saving blood thinning drugs, chief executive Amanda Pritchard announced today. The NHS will now dramatically scale up the use of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) with as many as 610,000 more patients set to benefit over the next […]

The first treatment for sickle cell disease in over 20 years will be rolled out to thousands of patients in England with life-saving benefits, the head of the NHS announced today. People with the condition endure severe pain during a ‘sickle cell crisis’ that can occur multiple times per year, often requiring hospital admission so […]

NHS lung cancer patients will be the first in Europe to be offered a revolutionary new drug which stops tumours growing by targeting the so-called “death star” mutation. The cutting-edge therapy Sotorasib will be fast-tracked to NHS patients after being proven in clinical trials to stop lung cancer growing for seven months. The drug’s adoption […]

A new drug to lower cholesterol will be made available to hundreds of thousands of NHS patients, thanks to a world-leading deal announced by the head of the health service today. The revolutionary new treatment, Inclisiran, is delivered as an injection twice a year and can be used alongside statins, adding to the options available […]

Children in England are set to be the first in the world to be offered a cure for hepatitis C, as part of NHS plans to eradicate the disease entirely. More than 100 children have been identified for treatment, with hundreds more set to benefit in the coming months and years. Those aged 3 to […]

Thousands of cystic fibrosis patients in England have had their health drastically improved by a “miracle” treatment, allowing one to give birth to a baby, since the NHS made it available exactly one year ago today. In the past 12 months, NHS patients in England benefited from one of the fastest rollouts in the world […]

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. […]