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The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) launched a new Innovative Medicines Fund on Tuesday (June 7) under which £340 million has been made available to purchase potentially life-saving drugs early. This will allow NHS patients in England to have early access to potentially life-saving and cutting-edge treatments Health secretary Sajid Javid said: "I want NHS patients to be the first in the world to access the most promising and revolutionary treatments that could extend or save their lives. "The launch of the Innovative Medicines Fund delivers another manifesto pledge and will fast-track cutting-edge medicines to adults and children to give people renewed hope for a better future." A total of £680 million has been ringfenced for the Innovative Medicines Fund and Cancer Drugs Fund - £340 million each - to fast-track medicines to NHS patients. DHSC said: "The Innovative Medicines Fund will provide quick access to novel treatments, including potentially lifesaving gene therapies for serious conditions with few treatment options. It often takes longer for pharmaceutical companies to collect data on a medicine's clinical and cost effectiveness for rare diseases due to the smaller patient cohort.

The Health and Social Care Secretary has announced over £175 million funding to boost genomics research in the UK. Through this funding, the government aims to create the most advanced genomic healthcare system in the world. "Patients with cancer and children born with treatable rare genetic diseases are set to benefit from earlier diagnosis and faster access to treatment, following a £175 million boost to cutting-edge genomics research announced by the Health and Social Care Secretary today (Tuesday)," said DHSC. The funding will enable research which could deliver world-leading genomic healthcare to patients, which involves the study of people's DNA. "£105 million to be funded to kickstart a world-leading research study, led by Genomics England in partnership with the NHS, to explore the effectiveness of using whole genome sequencing to find and treat rare genetic diseases in newborn babies," said DHSC. "An initial £26 million to support an innovative cancer programme, led by Genomics England in partnership with the NHS, to evaluate cutting-edge genomic sequencing technology to improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis for cancer patients and use artificial intelligence to analyse a person's DNA, alongside other information such as routine scans.