A £200m per year cancer drugs fund for the NHS has been confirmed by the government.
The government is also launching a consultation into how the fund should be operated.
It said the fund would help cancer patients get greater access to drugs that their doctor recommends for them.
The fund was originally proposed when the coalition government was formalised in May, and will provide £200m a year from April 2011 to the end of 2013.
A separate £50m commitment has been available from the start of October until the end of March.
According to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), each drug is considered on a case-by-case basis.
Generally, however, if a treatment costs more than £20,000-30,000 per quality-adjusted life years measurement (QALY), then it would not be considered cost effective.
Assuming each treatment costs £20,000 per year, this would mean around 10,000 patients a year would be helped by the new fund.
The consultation is seeking the views of healthcare professionals, patients, carers and the public on proposals for the Fund's operation such as:
• ways to support patients and their clinicians in making the best treatment decisions;
• the need for guidance to support the operation of the process; and
• what the precise scope of the fund should be.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley noted that the fund is in addition to what Primary Care Trusts already spend, and clinicians can still apply locally to Primary Care Trusts for exceptional funding of drugs not normally available.
The government added that its longer term plans will ensure patient access to drugs is improved by changing the way the NHS pays for branded drugs in 2014.
