The campaigners have reported that thousands of cancer patients are being denied access to costly drugs for rarer cancers by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), the NHS medicines watchdog, as it is believed to be pretending contrary to the recommendations of a Government inquiry.

Analysis by the Rarer Cancers Forum (RCF) claims that up to 16,000 patients have been prevented from gaining an access to drugs as the watchdog had extended a biased conclusion that they failed to fulfil the criteria for consideration, or they were deemed too expensive, prior to any proper negotiation with pharmaceutical companies.

The report, Exceptional Progress?, ponders over the improvements made in the treatment access for people with rarer cancers after a review was initiated out by Sir Mike Richards, the Government’s national clinical director for cancer.

Andrew Wilson, chief executive of the RCF quoted, “It is unacceptable that many thousands of patients are still missing out on the treatment they need, and which their doctors want to give them, because NICE has decided that their treatment does not meet some arbitrary criteria”.

Nice was granted the right last year, to negotiate patient access facilities extended to reduce the cost of drugs to the NHS with the pharmaceutical companies to divide the cost of treatment with the drug with the NHS.