New drugs being fast-tracked for NHS use
Herceptin is among the first wave of medicines that will be fast-tracked for effectiveness under a new system that could mean guidance for the NHS being available on some medicines as early as eight weeks after they are licensed.
Jointly launched by the Department of Health and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the Single Technology Appraisal (STA) process is aimed at speeding up the introduction of new treatments for NHS use.
Guidance for most drugs assessed under the new process will be available on average up to eight months earlier than originally planned.
Health professionals can comment on the new process, which will initially be used to produce faster guidance on a number of life-saving anti-cancer drugs which have already been licensed, and on new medicines as they are licensed.
The first guidance to be issued could be as early as next June. Guidance on Herceptin for early stage breast cancer should be issued soon after.
Improved welfare checks on fertility patients
A patient's GP will not automatically be contacted if they go for treatment at a fertility clinic, says new guidance.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority wants to improve the way would-be parents are assessed before fertility treatment to ensure the well-being of any resulting child.
It says fertility clinicians should be able to use their professional judgment to decide if a patients' suitability for parenthood needs further investigation, rather than contacting their GP as a matter of course.
Clinics must assess parents under the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, but revised guidance says clinics should assume they will provide treatment unless there is evidence any child would be at risk of serious harm. But GPs, social services or other relevant bodies will still be contacted if clinics have concerns.
The guidance will be implemented from January.
