Editor’s blog Thursday 29 April 2010: Conservatives re-announce pharma industry subsidy

From BBC News comes the re-announcement by the Conservatives (can't find any other reference) that they will give £200 million to a cancer fund to pay for drugs that expert rationing body NICE thinks do not work sufficiently to be cost-effective - even following the liberalisation of NICE definitions of what expensive end-of-life drugs should be used, mandated by the Richards Review.

The BBC News story (you will have to scroll down) says, "0834: The Conservatives are spelling out their cancer policies. David Cameron says the money the NHS will save thanks to his party's decision to reverse Labour's planned National Insurance rise will allow the creation of a £200m-a-year Cancer Drugs Fund to ensure all medication not currently sanctioned for use by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence will be available on the NHS".

Is this evidence-based policymaking?