Jeremy Hunt backs plan to cut four years from NHS scrutiny of new medicines

A review says the process can be sped up without cutting safety standards

Jeremy Hunt says the change can be made without reducing standards (AFP/Getty)

Jeremy Hunt has backed a plan to cut up to four years from the time it takes the NHS to scrutinise and sign off new medicines before they are deemed safe for patients to use.

The Health Secretary said he was “determined to help the UK become the best place in the world to produce new drugs and products” and that the move could benefit patients and be done without cutting assessment standards.

He was responding to plans outlined in the Government’s Accelerated Access Review, which was carried out independently by Sir Hugh Taylor, a former senior civil servant who chairs Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital Trust.

In its final report released on Monday, the review said a “balance” had to be struck between speeding up the process of bringing medicines to market and patient safety and that in many cases four years could be cut from the process without reducing the standards of evidence needed.

“The Accelerated Access Pathway could enable widespread patient access to pharmaceutical products up to four years earlier,” the report says.

It continues: “There is always a balance to be struck between accelerating access to medicines and ensuring that patients can be confident those medicines are safe.

“It is therefore important to note that this review does not make any recommendations that change the evidentiary standards needed for regulation.

“In EAMS, medicines are only approved for use in the scheme if companies can provide good quality, clinical and non-clinical supporting data, along with a risk management plan, similar to that provided for marketing authorisation.”

The review says the process could be sped up by shortening the clinical development period before market access is granted for drugs.

Other assessment processes currently conducted in a series could also be conducted at the same time, among other changes proposed by the report.

Mr Hunt said the report should be implemented and that it provided a “strong basis” for considering new medicines in the future.

Welcoming the recommendations, Mr Hunt said in a statement: “The report provides us with a strong basis to make the right decisions about how the health system can be adapted to meet the challenges of the future, attract inward investment, grow our thriving life sciences industry and use innovation to improve patient outcomes in the context of the financial pressures on the NHS,” he said.

“It will be important to implement this report in a way that is affordable for the NHS. The Government will now consider the proposals in detail with our partners and will provide a fuller response in due course.”