Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure the continuation of Cancer Drugs Fund funding for patients needing adjuvant nivolumab in high risk resected malignant melanoma groups.

The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) is now linked to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal programme.

In the case of nivolumab for adjuvant treatment of completely resected melanoma with lymph node involvement or metastatic disease, this drug has been available to eligible National Health Service patients through the CDF in accordance with NICE’s recommendation in January 2019.

NICE is now reviewing this decision and published its draft recommendation in November 2020. NICE was unable to recommend nivolumab for routine funding in its draft guidance. However, this is not final guidance and a consultation on the draft recommendations closed on 25 November. NICE will has now considered the responses to the draft recommendation at the committee meeting on 5 January 2021 and expects to publish its final guidance in March 2021.