The National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, sets out several actions and commitments on immunotherapies, to be delivered within the next ten years. Working alongside the 10-Year Health Plan, the National Cancer Plan aims to ensure wider access to advanced treatments, to personalise cancer treatment for all who need it.

The plan sets out how access to advanced treatments and personalised medicine, supported by genomic testing, will be sped up and widened. This includes a commitment to expand access to targeted and personalised therapies, such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR-T) cell therapy, alongside ongoing work on mRNA vaccines.

The creation and roll out of the next generation of personalised treatments is a significant commitment set out in the Plan. New technologies, including artificial intelligence, molecular radiotherapy, genomics, alongside mRNA vaccines, offer the possibility of greater advances. Ongoing work on genomics will support the development of new treatments that have the best opportunity of curing an individual’s specific cancer and preventing its recurrence. Progress in cancer vaccines through the Vaccine Innovation Pathway and Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP) and will deliver up to 10,000 cancer vaccines by 2030.

The CVLP is a platform that is increasing access and speeding up recruitment to clinical trials for personalised cancer vaccines and other immunotherapies for patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. In 2025, the scope of the CVLP was expanded beyond personalised cancer vaccines to also include other immunotherapies. NHS England is responsible for the overall delivery of the CVLP and has contracted Southampton Clinical Trials Unit to manage the day-to-day delivery of the platform. The platform is designed to be company and clinical trial agnostic so any company can contact the CVLP to explore how the platform can support their research.

The National Health Service provides a range of treatments for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, including chemotherapy as a first treatment, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapies, and stem cell transplantation for eligible patients.

Effectiveness of treatments is assessed by clinicians for individual patients using data on measures such as the responsiveness of the cancer to treatment, remission, overall survival, and quality of life. The most appropriate treatment depends on the type and stage of lymphoma and the patient’s individual circumstances, and decisions are made by specialist multidisciplinary teams.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has evaluated and recommended several Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell (CAR-T) Therapy treatments for use within the Cancer Drugs Fund for the treatment of various cancers, including for large B-cell lymphoma a sub type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which are now available to NHS patients in line with NICE’s recommendations. In November 2025, NHS England published commissioning guidance to support the implementation of CAR-T therapies for blood cancer.

Furthermore, the National Cancer Plan commits to ensuring rare cancer patients, including blood cancer, have improved access to targeted and personalised treatments where genomics identifies suitable options. The plan aims is to improve survival rates for rare cancers, including blood cancers by exploring novel procurement routes for diagnostics and treatments. Genomics will support the development of new treatments to improve outcomes for those with cancer.

The following table shows, from latest data available, the number of patients treated for non-Hodkin lymphoma receiving radiotherapy, systemic anti-cancer treatment (SACT), and tumour resections for their tumour, each year from 2019 to 2022:

The Department is committed to turbocharging clinical research and delivering better patient care, to make the United Kingdom a world-leading destination for clinical research including cell and gene therapies such as CAR-T. We are working to fast-track clinical trials to drive global investment into life sciences, improve health outcomes, and accelerate the development of medicines and therapies of the future, including gene therapy treatments.

The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, across the development pathway.

The NIHR Industry Hub, launched in October 2025, provides a single front door for companies in England, coordinating research infrastructure into one coherent, streamlined offer.

NIHR infrastructure offers innovators access to world-leading expertise, facilities, and support for the delivery of clinical trials, strengthening the UK’s position as a partner of choice for cell and gene therapy studies. The NIHR’s Biomedical Research Centres and Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres support early translational and experimental medicine studies, offering world-leading scientific expertise and clinical capability for complex, early phase, and first-in-human trials, including CAR-T. This helps de-risk development and attract cutting-edge studies to the UK.

NIHR’s Clinical Research Facilities provide specialist environments and the skilled workforce required to deliver these complex therapies safely and efficiently. To improve delivery at scale, the NIHR’s Research Delivery Network and Commercial Research Delivery Centres are established to support rapid and efficient delivery of clinical trials and provide dedicated capacity and capability across the country. This will further enhance the UKs competitiveness by improving the speed and reliability of study setup and delivery.

In addition, the NIHR supported Advanced Therapy Treatment Centres (ATTCs) play a key role in the development of advanced therapy medicinal products clinical trials. By developing national infrastructure, standardising delivery pathways, and supporting centres across a range of geographies, ATTCs help ensure that advanced therapies can be delivered beyond a small number of highly specialised sites.

Through the National Cancer Plan for England, the Government is committing up to £10 million a year to a new fund open to all children and young people in England with cancer and their families regardless of income, to support them with the cost of travelling to and from their treatment. This commitment sits alongside wider action to transform cancer care for children and young people.

The Department is currently working with its partners to define the scope and parameters of the scheme and further detail will be announced in due course.

Currently, the National Health Service runs schemes in England to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist treatment or diagnostics tests, following referral from a primary healthcare professional. The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme provides financial assistance to patients in England who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with the costs of travelling to receive certain NHS services. The Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services provide funded transport where it is considered essential to ensuring an individual’s safety, safe mobilisation, condition management, or recovery.

The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.

The COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Green Book on vaccination and immunisation sets out details of who may be vaccinated, including cases where a patient has upcoming immunosuppressive treatment, including chemotherapy. In these instances, it will be for their treating clinician to recommend whether a COVID-19 vaccine will be appropriate and when it should be given on a case-by-case basis. They will have the best knowledge of the patient and will need to be content that any prescriptions or treatments, including vaccinations, are clinically appropriate for the individual. Year-round pathways are in place locally to enable these vaccinations to be given when clinically indicated, including during or ahead of a course of chemotherapy.

The JCVI continues to keep the COVID-19 vaccination programme under review, and the Government will respond to any additional JCVI advice in due course.

The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.

The COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Green Book on vaccination and immunisation sets out details of who may be vaccinated, including cases where a patient has upcoming immunosuppressive treatment, including chemotherapy. In these instances, it will be for their treating clinician to recommend whether a COVID-19 vaccine will be appropriate and when it should be given on a case-by-case basis. They will have the best knowledge of the patient and will need to be content that any prescriptions or treatments, including vaccinations, are clinically appropriate for the individual. Year-round pathways are in place locally to enable these vaccinations to be given when clinically indicated, including during or ahead of a course of chemotherapy.

The JCVI continues to keep the COVID-19 vaccination programme under review, and the Government will respond to any additional JCVI advice in due course.

The commitment to fund travel costs of up to £10 million per year to support children and young people with cancer is a key priority for the National Cancer Plan.

The Department is currently working with its partners to define the scope and parameters of the scheme and further detail will be announced in due course.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel following managed access through the Cancer Drugs Fund to determine whether it should be recommended for routine National Health Service funding. NICE’s draft guidance, published in December, does not recommend it as a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. The Government recognises that any potential withdrawal for future patients with mantle cell lymphoma will be concerning, but these decisions are rightly taken independently and based on the available evidence. Under an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend routine use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

NICE is an England-only body. Medicine availability decisions in the devolved administrations are for the relevant devolved governments.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel following managed access through the Cancer Drugs Fund to determine whether it should be recommended for routine National Health Service funding. NICE’s draft guidance, published in December, does not recommend it as a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. The Government recognises that any potential withdrawal for future patients with mantle cell lymphoma will be concerning, but these decisions are rightly taken independently and based on the available evidence. Under an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend routine use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

NICE is an England-only body. Medicine availability decisions in the devolved administrations are for the relevant devolved governments.

The following table shows the number of patients treated per annum with CAR-T cell therapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, from 2023 to 2025, and in total:

The National Cancer Plan will support England to be a world leader on cancer research and innovation. The Department’s actions will support patients in England to get access to the latest breakthroughs in care and treatment. This will aid the health and care system to prevent, detect, and better treat and manage a wider range of cancers contributing to improved survival rates enabling 320,000 lives to be saved by 2035.

Every cancer patient who would benefit from a genomic test, including patients with brain cancer, will receive one in a clinically relevant timeframe, supported by expanded genomic testing capacity through new NHS Genomic Medicine Service Lead Provider contracts from April 2026. This is in addition to increasing the use of whole genome sequencing in routine clinical practice for children with cancer or rare diseases.

Furthermore, Genomic testing will support access to clinical trials, with plans to expand ctDNA and other biomarker testing to a wider range of cancers by 2030, enabling personalised treatment pathways for rare cancers such as brain tumours.

Investment in four new aseptic medicines production hubs, operational by 2027, will expand national capacity for systemic anticancer therapies, including immunotherapies. To support improved outcomes for rare cancer patients, they will benefit from a move to specialist multi-disciplinary teams, that cover multiple providers. This will allow them to benefit from the input of specialist centres and so access to the best evidence care. This will be underpinned by continued engagement with rare cancer charities to ensure patients receive the right support after treatment.

Rare cancers, including brain tumours, are an explicit research and access priority in the National Cancer Plan, supported by National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) investment, such as the £13.7 million NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium and measures to accelerate breakthroughs in diagnostics and treatment.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel to determine whether it can be recommended for routine National Health Service funding following a period of managed access through the Cancer Drugs Fund. NICE’s draft guidance, published in December, does not recommend it as a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. The Government recognises that the potential withdrawal of brexucabtagene autoleucel as a treatment for future patients with mantle cell lymphoma will be concerning for patients and their families, but it is right that these decisions are taken independently and on the basis of the available evidence. In line with an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

The CAR-T delivery tariff reflects the costs which the NHS incurs for delivering CAR-T therapy. The tariff was updated for the start of the 2024/25 financial year following a planned costing review involving all CAR-T providers in England. This enabled the tariff to be updated with the benefit of the significant delivery experience that can be drawn on having first routinely introduced CAR-T in the NHS in 2023. Other than considering an appropriate inflationary uplift on an annual basis, in line with usual practice, there are no plans to further review the tariff at this time. Other CAR-T therapies have been recommended for routine NHS adoption in England by NICE based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness that reflects the existing CAR-T delivery tariff, most recently obecabtagene autoleucel for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

The Government remains committed to the ambitions set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, which set out an ambition that by 2030, we will be one of the top three fastest places in Europe for patient access to medicines. We will achieve this by reducing friction in the system to optimise access and uptake of new medicines so the most clinically and cost-effective can reach patients faster.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel to determine whether it should be recommended for routine National Health Service use following a period of managed access through the Cancer Drugs Fund. NICE’s draft guidance, published in December 2025, does not recommend it as a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resource, although NICE has not yet published final guidance. The Government recognises that the potential withdrawal of brexucabtagene autoleucel as a treatment for future patients will be concerning for patients and their families, but it is right that these decisions are taken independently and on the basis of the available evidence. In line with an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

202 patients have received brexucabtagene autoleucel, a form of CAR-T therapy, for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma via the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). This data is taken from NHS England’s prior approval system. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently re-evaluating the evidence on clinical outcomes collected through its use in the CDF in its ongoing re-evaluation of brexucabtagene autoleucel.

NICE published final draft guidance on 24 December 2025 in which it was not able to recommend brexucabtagene autoleucel for the treatment of relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma in adults who have had two or more lines of systemic treatment that included a Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor. This is because the extent of brexucabtagene autoleucel’s clinical benefit is uncertain. There are also uncertainties in the economic model because there is not enough evidence to tell if the cancer can be ‘cured’ in people having brexucabtagene autoleucel and it is not known how long people live after having brexucabtagene autoleucel. The cost-effectiveness estimates are also substantially above the range that NICE considers an acceptable use of National Health Service resources. NICE has not yet published final guidance and stakeholders have recently had an opportunity to appeal NICE’s recommendations.

The Government recognises that the potential withdrawal of brexucabtagene autoleucel as a treatment for future patients will be concerning for patients and their families, but it is right that these decisions are taken independently and on the basis of the available evidence. In line with an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

Decisions on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England are made by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the basis of an evaluation of their costs and benefits. NICE is currently re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus) to determine whether it can be recommended for routine NHS use, taking into account real-world evidence generated through its use in the Cancer Drugs Fund.

NICE has been unable to recommend the treatment in the final draft guidance, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-ta11545/documents

This is because the available evidence does not suggest that brexucabtagene autoleucel is value for money in this population. Final guidance has not yet been published and the period to appeal NICE’s final draft recommendations closed on 19 January.

In line with an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

Answering this question would require Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency staff to go through a vast volume of protocol documents manually. This is because the information is not held in such a way to be able to filter electronically by the requested category.

The Guide to Parliamentary Work sets out that there is an advisory cost limit known as the disproportionate cost threshold which is the level above which departments can decide not to answer a written question. The current disproportionate cost threshold is £850.

The Guide to Parliamentary Work is published online and is available on the GOV.UK website.

The Department has made no assessment of the potential merits of DCVax-L following its trial at King’s College Hospital.

Northwest Biotherapeutics has submitted a Marketing Authorisation Application to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for DCVax-L, an immunotherapy for glioblastoma. The MHRA is unable to comment on applications during the process of review, but the MHRA can confirm that this application is not affected by any historical backlogs and is assessing all applications rapidly for safety, quality, and efficacy.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness. NICE aims wherever possible to issue recommendations on new medicines close to the time of licensing. The NHS is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. NICE is in discussions with the manufacturer of DCVax-L, Northwest Biotherapeutics, about a potential appraisal subject to licensing.

The Department is committed to turbocharging clinical research and ensuring that all patients, including those with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

The Department has not carried out an impact assessment on the effect of halted CAR-T clinical trials. This is because decisions about whether a specific clinical trial should progress or not are the responsibility of the study sponsor and research team involved, who closely monitor any reported patient safety concerns and other data that could impact this decision.

The Department is committed to turbocharging clinical research and ensuring that all patients, including those with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

Decisions about whether a specific clinical trial should be paused are the responsibility of the study sponsor and research team, who closely monitor any reported patient safety concerns and other data that could impact a decision for an individual trial to be halted.

To support National Health Service trusts to deliver clinical trials, the Department funds research and research infrastructure across England through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including on CAR-T therapy.

NHS England funds the use of licensed medicines that have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), or the off-label use of licensed indications that have been approved via the NHS England clinical policy process.

NICE has evaluated and recommended several CAR-T therapies for both high-grade and low-grade lymphomas, some of which are recommended for a period of managed access, for instance:

• Brexucabtagene autoleucel, for relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MA rec) and/or relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in people aged 26 years old and over (managed access);
• Tisagenlecleucel for relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in people aged 25 years old and under;
• Brexucabtagene autoleucel for relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (managed access) and/or relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in people aged 26 years old and over (managed access);
• Tisagenlecleucel for relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in people aged 25 years old and under;
• Axicabtagene ciloleucel for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma after two or more systemic therapies and/or relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma after first-line chemoimmunotherapy;
• Lisocabtagene maraleucel for relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma after first-line chemoimmunotherapy when a stem cell transplant is suitable; and
• Obecabtagene autoleucel for relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and/or relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

To support implementation of NICE recommendations, NHS England sets clinical treatment criteria to ensure that treatments are made available to those intended by the NICE Guidance. Clinical input helps set the clinical and patient treatment criteria based on the NICE committee deliberations, how the treatment will be used within the treatment pathway, and the evidence base considered by NICE and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.