The Times (KC) 17-Sep-08
From Kidney Cancer Resource
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Money and lives can be saved by the NHS
The purchasing power of the NHS should be brought into play to broaden the availability of life-extending treatments
Sir, Much has been written in recent weeks concerning the reluctance of NICE to fund drugs proven to control kidney cancer because they are “too expensive”.
For more than two years my wife has been taking two of the drugs that NICE refuses to fund. We have been obliged to pay for the drugs from savings, as funding was denied to us by the Norfolk PCT on application and through three subsequent appeals.
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Tony's wife Gail BALDING
It appears that NICE determines the drugs to be “too expensive” merely by reflecting (and inflating) the manufacturer’s list price for the medication. Indeed, in a recent radio interview I was astonished to hear the chief executive of NICE make it quite clear that it was not the responsibility of his organisation to negotiate reductions in the cost of a drug with the pharmaceutical companies.
I cannot believe that NICE can make these statements based on a cost per drug that is the same as that paid by a member of the public. In a commercial world (which their obsession with cost places them in) there should be an appropriate negotiation with the relevant drug manufacturer.
It seems that there is no central national NHS purchasing, it being delegated to the local responsibility of each PCT. The purchasing power of the NHS nationally should be brought into play to reduce the unit cost and thereby broaden the availability of these life-extending treatments.
NICE hides behind a mechanistic approach without being prepared to think outside the box and find solutions that would enable progress on patient care, which should be their core objective and that of their political masters.
Tony Balding
Norwich
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