PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Pancreatic Cancer: Drugs (2 June 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that the treatments for pancreatic cancer listed by the Cancer Drugs Fund will continue to be made available to patients on the NHS.

Asked by:
Sir Nicholas Dakin (Labour)

The Cancer Drugs Fund has already helped over 72,000 people in England and this year £340 million will be provided so people get the drugs they need.

The operation of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), including which drugs remain in the Fund, is a matter for NHS England. The national CDF list is reviewed regularly and includes several treatments for pancreatic cancers such as:

Albumin Bound Paclitaxel (Abraxane) for the first line treatment of advanced adenocarcinoma of the pancreas in combination with gemcitabine; Peptide Receptor Radionucleotide Therapy for the treatment of advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours; and Sunitinib (Sutent) for the treatment of pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinomas.

Answered by:
George Freeman (Conservative)
10 June 2015