Health: Multiple Sclerosis

Baroness Barker Excerpts

Monday 30th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, we are keen to see candidates being proposed for the early access to medicines scheme. If a body of evidence suggests that benztropine could qualify for designation as a promising innovative medicine—a PIM—the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency stands ready to consider such evidence. However, it is for the manufacturer of the drug, not the Government, to decide whether it wishes to propose the drug as a candidate for the scheme.

[Baroness Barker (LD)]

My Lords, three drugs are currently awaiting approval by NICE, some of which have been turned down by the European Medicines Agency because of their side effects. To what extent does NICE take that factor into account in its own decision-making process?

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend will know that NICE looks at the clinical effectiveness of a drug alongside its cost effectiveness. The cost-effectiveness equation will naturally include consideration of unpleasant side-effects. The advice that it issues will reflect the evidence that it has from clinicians on that matter. It will then be for clinicians to decide whether the risk-benefit ratio is appropriate for particular patients.