> was concerned that a cancer drug called Avastin, was not widely available in the UK

One of the important points here that the "privatisation is great" people are missing is that the reason Avastin isn't used off label so much is because the makers of Avastin have already spent vast sums of money suing the NHS to stop off-label prescribing, and they refused to allow Avastin to be licensed for one common off-label use (for AMD).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30138097

https://www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-efficiency/nhs-wins-landma...