The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has approved two new cancer treatments – bosutinib targeted to leukaemia and pemetrexed for the treatment of lung cancer – to be used on the NHS as a routine practice due to their marketing companies lowering the prices.

As both drug treatments were only available if an individual’s doctor applied through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), the newly discounted prices indicate both drugs are now considered ‘value for money’.

Director of the centre for health technology evaluation at NICE, Professor Carole Longson, said: “It’s great to see that companies are engaging with our CDF reconsideration process in a constructive way, resulting in these positive recommendations. This is good news. As these drugs move into routine budgets, CDF funding can be freed up for other new and innovative cancer treatments.”

According to NICE, both drugs work by targeting specific cancer cells to stop then from growing and multiplying.