England announces speedier approvals of cancer drugs

Cancer patients are celebrating as England announces quicker approval for life-saving drugs.

Government ministers have sanctioned changes to reduce the approval process for many medicines from an average of 14 months to six. And because the new system can start before a drug has been given marketing and safety approval, some guidance may be issued just two months after licensing.

The move has been forced on them by a groundswell of anger among well-informed patients.

Charities have complained that availability of some drugs, already licensed by European or British regulators, could be held up by two to three years under the current system because they have to take their place in the queue before appraisal starts. The row over Herceptin, whose manufacturers have not even submitted a licence application for its use in early stage breast cancer, has already prompted Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, to make clear to health managers they will no longer be able to refuse its use on the grounds of cost, providing patients and their doctors believe it will benefit them.

The first five drugs to undergo the new process will be Herceptin, Taxol, MabThera, for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and Velcade for multiple myeloma. Another nine, again nearly all cancer treatments, should be appraised up to 15 months earlier than previously planned.