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The Government claims thousands of UK patients are to benefit from earlier access to innovative medicines through a new US-UK “pharmaceutical partnership”.

The deal will see UK drug manufacturers enjoy tariff-free access to the US market “for at least three years,” and will incentivise pharma companies to launch “breakthrough medicines” such as cancer therapies sooner.

Science minister Patrick Vallance said: “Thanks to this partnership, patients right across the NHS will benefit from access to life-changing new medicines that they previously would have been denied.

“Not only this, but as the first country in the world to benefit from a zero per cent tariff on pharmaceuticals to the NHS, Britain’s life sciences sector will be further boosted. 

“By encouraging greater investment, this partnership will enable new medicines to be developed in the UK, helping more people to live healthier, longer lives while creating high-skilled jobs across the UK.”

Announcing the partnership, the Government also set out changes to how NICE evaluates medicines that it said will lead to approvals for medicines that “might previously have been turned down on cost grounds alone”. 

Two drugs – a brain cancer medicine and a “last-resort treatment” for a rare form of stomach cancer – have already been recommended by NICE since the cost-effectiveness threshold was updated. 

Health minister Zubir Ahmed commented: “From April, thousands of people across the UK will be able to access treatments on the NHS that were previously out of reach. 

“This is the first time in over 20 years that we have raised the bar for what NICE can approve, and it means life-changing medicines can reach the patients who need them most.”