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Weekly UpdatesUK patients could soon be treated with selected new medicines even when they have not yet been approved by the UK's drugs watchdog, NICE, under new plans announced by the government earlier this month. Patients will receive the drugs from next year as part of a 25m [pounds sterling] pilot trial of a government backed 'innovation pass' aimed at making selected innovative medicines available to the NHS for an unspecified 'time limited period'. The medicines, which will already be approved by drug regulators, are likely to be aimed at small patient populations, such as those with late stage cancers. The results of the pilot will be evaluated before the government sets the budget for the remaining two years of the initiative.
The innovation pass is one of a package of actions in a Life Sciences Blueprint, which aims to boost the sector, launched by the UK Office for Life Sciences. Others include the creation of a Strategic Health Authority (SHA) delivery group to improve both the uptake of innovative medicines and technologies and engagement between industry and the NHS; and a UK Innovation Investment Fund to invest in technology-based businesses announced in June (C&I 2009, 13, 5).
Speaking at the launch of the Blueprint in London, innovation minister Lord Drayson pointed out that while the UK is second only to the US in the life sciences sector, recent trends have indicated a loss of global market share prompting the need for urgent actions to revitalise the sector.
Richard Barker, director general of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), said: 'In January, we warned the prime minister that the life sciences industry in the UK needed a shot in the arm. Gordon Brown has clearly heeded that warning.'
Also present at the meeting was health minister Lord Darzi, responsible for the recent major review of the NHS, who announced later that day that he was quitting office to focus on his medical and research work.
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