§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether £17 million of National Health Service funding has been ring-fenced for the provision of the breast cancer drug Herceptin; and how much National Health Service funding has been ring-fenced in the current fiscal year for the provision of the lymphatic cancer drug MabThera; and [HL4249]
Whether patients with lymphatic cancer can have access to treatment by the drug MabThera, as urgently called for by the Lymphoma Association; and [HL4251]
What financial provision has been made in the years 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2006–07 for lymphoma sufferers to receive the drug MabThera on the National Health Service in the following localities: Leicester, Shrewsbury, Cambridge, Ipswich, Sheffield, Swansea, 70WA Basingstoke, Cardiff, Northwood (Middlesex), Oxford, Southampton and London. [HL4252]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathThe National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued guidance on the use of trastuzumab (Herceptin) for the treatment of breast cancer on 15 March 2002 and rituximab (MabThera) for the treatment of follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) on 28 March 2002.
NICE recommended that trastuzumab (Herceptin) is used in certain circumstances for women with breast cancer and made a limited recommendation on the use of rituximab (MabThera) for lymphoma patients in a specific state of their disease.
£407 million in 2002–03 and £570 million in 2003–04 is being made available to support implementation of the Cancer Plan, including positive recommendations from NICE on cancer drugs.
Local services have freedom to decide where National Health Service resources are best spent. However, directions have been issued obliging health authorities and primary care trusts to provide appropriate funding for treatments recommended by NICE. From 1 January this year, the NHS will have three months from the date of publication of each technology appraisal guidance to provide funding so that clinical decisions made by doctors involving NICE recommended treatments or drugs can be funded.
§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their response to research findings of the Lymphoma Association that one person an hour is diagnosed with lymphoma in the United Kingdom; and how much funding promised for the National Health Service over the next five years will be spent on research into the causes of lymphoma and the provision of adequate budgets for the treatment of lymphoma patients. [HL4250]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathThe total government expenditure on research in any given year is not normally allocated in advance to specific diseases. Decisions depend on many variables, including the quality of proposals received. By 2003–04, the Government will be spending an additional £20 million a year on the new National Health Service infrastructure for cancer research. This will mean that more cancer patients, including lymphoma patients, will have access to new and experimental treatments. In April 2001 the Government set up the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) in partnership with charities and industry. The NCRI Clinical Studies Group provides advice to the NCRI on clinical research into lymphomas.
£407 million in 2002–03 and £570 million in 2003–04 is being made available to support implementation of the Cancer Plan. It is for local decision where NHS resources are best spent.