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NHS England has stopped supplying at least 17 life-extending medications from its 'Cancer Drugs Fund' to save money.
When I was being treated for cancer, I had plenty of things to worry about. Thankfully, whether the NHS would fund the drugs I needed was not one. But some cancer patients now face this terrible situation.
Medications from the Cancer Drugs Fund are usually those which aren't routinely available, but can prolong your life significantly. And NHS England is apparently negotiating with pharmaceutical companies to work out which drugs offer 'value for money'.
What a scandal in the 21st century! Instead of 'negotiating' with drug companies, the Socialist Party says we should be nationalising them.
What if these giant, super-profitable companies were part of a democratically planned economy? All the expertise built up by research workers in that industry could be made available for anyone who needs it.
Karl Claxton is a health economist at York University. He commented that the Cancer Drugs Fund has "put the interests of manufacturers ahead of patients - and it is time for the political will to be found to address the underlying problem of the price being charged for drugs."
Who can put a price on a few more months or years with your family and friends? It looks like the Tories, NHS England and pharmaceutical bosses can.
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Article dated 9 September 2015
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