NHS England will provide a promising new treatment which can prolong the lives of children with a rare genetic condition after negotiating a deal with the manufacturer. Nusinersen, also called Spinraza and made by Biogen, is the first treatment that targets the underlying cause of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The condition affects the nerves in […]
An army of experts have been recruited by NHS England to help prevent care home residents being given too many medicines as part of a package of measures to improve older people’s health and care in the NHS Long Term Plan. Care home residents are prescribed an average of seven medicines a day, with many […]
Patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) will have routine access to a drug that can slow disability under a deal struck between NHS England and the manufacturer Roche, paving the way for its approval by NICE. Ocrelizumab (also known as Ocrevus) is the first treatment that can modify or change the course of the disease to […]
The NHS will find and cure tens of thousands more people with hepatitis C as part of a ground-breaking deal that could help England become the first country in the world to eliminate the deadly virus. Over 30,000 people have already benefitted from new drugs which cure hepatitis C being made available on the NHS […]
New places for the PrEP Impact Trial will now start to be released following agreement at the PrEP Oversight Board. Implementation of the PrEP Impact trial has been a huge success with over 11,500 participants already enrolled in this important HIV prevention measure. With the speed of recruitment and need for PrEP significantly exceeding initial […]
NHS England’s plan to eliminate Hepatitis C in England by 2025 is on track after all aspects of a High Court challenge by pharmaceutical company AbbVie were dismissed. The NHS’s single largest medicines procurement, a deal worth almost £1 billion over five years, was launched in April last year but contract start dates had to […]
Implementation of the PrEP Impact trial has been a huge success with over 10,000 participants already enrolled in this important HIV prevention measure. But, the speed of recruitment and demand for PrEP has significantly exceeded initial expert predictions and the trial researchers now consider that more places should be made available. They argue that recruitment […]
NHS England will today consider guidance to GPs about a ban on gluten free pizzas, cakes and biscuits and set out plans to curb other low priority items such as silk garments and bath oils in moves that could save almost £70 million a year. NHS England has already ordered an end to the routine […]
The first children to receive a game-changing personalised therapy for cancer will start treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London this week. A second centre, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, is also ready to start treating children with a rare form of leukaemia while a third, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is expected […]
The NHS is set to save a record £300 million after negotiating deals with five manufacturers on low cost versions of the health service’s most costly drug, Simon Stevens announced today. The huge anticipated saving, the biggest in NHS history from a single drug negotiation, was unlocked by the introduction of ‘biosimilar’ versions of adalimumab […]