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  3. UCLPartners welcomes Government support to speed up patient’s access to breakthrough medical technologies and treatments

UCLPartners welcomes Government support to speed up patient’s access to breakthrough medical technologies and treatments

3 November 2017

Today’s announcement by the Government sets out a new, fast-track route into the NHS for ground-breaking medicines and technologies.  The Accelerated Access Pathway will be supported by UCLPartners to bring the benefits of the latest products to patients up to four years earlier.

From April 2018, an Accelerated Access Collaborative, involving patients, clinicians and industry partners, will identify and select products with the greatest potential to change lives.  With the involvement of the country’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), the scheme will unlock a comprehensive package of support that will allow firms to accelerate clinical development and benefit from a fast-track route through the NHS’s approval processes.

The Government is also providing an £86 million funding package to help innovators of all sizes to access the NHS market, and help ensure that these products get to the patients that need them. UCLPartners will receive a share of this to create local innovation exchanges that will support adoption of these medicines and technologies across our local NHS partners.   This will benefit patients and their families across a local population of six million people in our region.

This work builds on UCLPartners’ expertise in bringing innovative services and products to patients through the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA).  Hosted by UCLPartners and in partnership with the AHSNs across England and NHS England, the NIA has supported the adoption of innovation across 700 NHS organisations.  Already an incredible achievement, this new Accelerated Access pathway will enable the spread of innovation in healthcare at a greater scale than ever before.

Dr Charlie Davie, Managing Director of UCLPartners, said:

“We have some of the most innovative, ground-breaking and life-changing medical technologies and treatments being produced across the UK, but, for many reasons, these take too long to get into the NHS.   Today’s news is a welcome response and will help us address these issues and ensure patients get access to the treatments they deserve.”

Professor David Lomas, Academic Director of UCLPartners, said:

“UCLPartners is unique in its ability to work in partnership across the whole pathway from discovery to adoption.  This unified health system makes it possible to take world class science and innovation straight into the NHS and this is transforming lives of patients and populations. I am therefore delighted to see today’s announcement, which entirely supports our mission at UCLPartners.”

Health Minister, Lord O’Shaughnessy, said:

“I want the UK to be the best place in the world to develop new drugs and medical technology – but despite the innovation happening here, our uptake in the NHS can be too slow.

“Today’s new measures will not only benefit patients by improving how quickly and easily we can get innovative products from the lab to the bedside, but will guarantee future collaboration between the life sciences sector and the NHS post-Brexit – benefiting the British economy and creating jobs.”

To read the Government’s announcement and response to the Accelerated Access Review click here.