Health economics and policy academics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine , writing in thewarn that if the NHS England Innovative Medicines Fund is not implemented appropriately, it risks disincentivizing the generation of essential evidence and could shift the financial burden from theThe IMF operates on similar terms to the Cancer Drugs Fund , with a fixed annual budget of £340 million, equal to the CDF. Lead author Dr.
The authors also question why the CDF and IMF schemes, also known as 'managed access' schemes, should only exist for medicines and no other types of interventions."The need to consider non-medical interventions is particularly relevant in disease areas such as cancer, for which access to high quality radiation and surgical treatment are critical to improving outcomes," said co-author Dr. Ajay Aggarwal, Associate Professor at LSHTM and clinical oncologist.
If the IMF is to successfully foster early access to clinically effective, safe and cost-effective medicines, say the authors, its operational details and mechanisms in place need to be carefully designed.