Off-patent Drugs Bill

Jo Churchill Excerpts

Friday 6th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Jo Churchill (Bury St Edmunds) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds) on his success and on introducing this important Bill to the House today. I stand here as someone who has had cancer twice. I served on the advisory group of a national breast cancer charity and I am a breast cancer ambassador. In this House, I serve as vice-chair of both the all-party group on cancer and the all-party group on breast cancer. But I also stand here for all those survivors and for all those sufferers of MS, cancer and the many other conditions for which we know this Bill could provide effective treatment. It raises an issue that touches the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across the UK, including many of my constituents, who are living with or beyond serious diseases that have a profound effect on not only their lives, but those of their families.

For me, the Bill is about three core things: the patients, through improving access and outcomes; saving lives; and raising awareness. Although this House will debate the technicalities of the Bill as it progresses, today we are debating the principles. Why are we here? I can say from personal experience that patients and their families want to know simply that where there are treatments that could help them, they will be able to access them, regardless of where in the country they are and by which doctor or other medical professional they are being treated. For patients, the Bill serves as a lifeline. It could mean the difference between living beyond cancer or dying from it, or, for other diseases, between having an extended life or having quality of life. For those living with conditions that have fewer treatment options, it offers one simple thing: hope. It could ensure that we continue to make progress, and that our brilliant scientists make fresh breakthroughs—as they inevitably will—and when they do, people will benefit.

The Bill could have a significant impact on breast cancer, as, according to the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Dr Whitford), it would ensure the wider availability of preventive drugs. For women who have a family history of breast cancer and therefore a higher risk of developing the disease, Tamoxifen and Raloxifene have been shown to reduce the risk of the disease occurring in the first place by a third, which is not an insignificant amount.

Ministers have argued that this Bill is not needed. Indeed, we have just heard a Minister quite rightly questioning a Member, who is an expert on this matter, about the nuances of it. The argument is that the Bill merely regulates something that is possible for the medical profession to do already—none of us likes unnecessary regulation—but prescribing statistics show that that is simply not happening for all the reasons that have just been discussed. Such regulation could make a big impact, but the drugs have to be prescribed through every grade. That treatment is not being offered to many women, for if it were I would not be standing in this House today arguing for faster progress in this matter; I would be in my constituency.

Sometimes, Tamoxifen has side effects. Some women may not wish to use it as a preventive treatment, but the point is that they should have the choice, which they do not always have now. A woman with a high risk of breast cancer does not have many options. Sometimes, their only choice is a double mastectomy. I think of all the women around me—those in my constituency and my own daughters—and ask: is that really the only choice? This Bill would empower clinicians to offer and prescribe drugs such as Tamoxifen for as little as 6p a day. Those drugs could deliver effective treatment options and, crucially, those women at an increased risk of breast cancer could have the ability to choose the right course of treatment for them.

However, this debate goes wider than just drugs for breast cancer. A friend who was at a reception in this place last week has had a double mastectomy. She also has MS. The drug Simvastatin, which was referred to earlier and was originally licensed for cholesterol, has been shown to slow down brain atrophy by almost 40%. It also would help those who suffer from Parkinson’s. My friend also has type 2 diabetes, and there is some evidence to show that drugs for the treatment of that disease will also be potentially beneficial for those suffering from Alzheimer’s. By the way, she told me last week that she was volunteering as well as holding down her normal job—amazing.

As the research, which is also amazing, shows us, bisphosphonates that were developed to treat osteoporosis are now commonly used in the treatment of secondary breast cancer, and some 36,000 women live with secondary breast cancer in this country. zoledronic acid, a type of bisphosphonate, has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer spreading to the bone by 28%. Arguably, it is one of the biggest breakthroughs in terms of reducing mortality that we have seen in breast cancer research in the past 10 years. If this drug were routinely prescribed, it could save up to 1,000 lives per annum. However, it saves not only lives, but emotional trauma, physical impact, the cost on all those involved and the cost to the NHS.

I welcome the work that the Government are doing into the accelerated access review, but in the interim report that was published only last week, I saw no mention of off-patent or repurposed drugs, although I am more than happy to be corrected on that.

My personal view in this area and across the whole drugs arena, including the cancer drugs fund—where we have seen yet another removal of avostatin this week, although, thankfully, Kadcyla has remained—is that we need speedy decision making. That will help everybody in the industry, which needs to make a profit because it is seriously expensive to bring drugs from the bench to the patient, but will benefit patients and clinicians as well.

The Government support the intentions of the Bill. I feel confident that all clinicians have the ability to deliver what is best for their patients. Indeed, the cancer strategy, set out by NHS England and supported by the Government, aims to deliver a patient-centred approach. It puts saving the lives of cancer patients and improving their quality of treatment at the heart of the “Five Year Forward View”. By unlocking access to off-patent and life-saving drugs, the Bill would do that, too.

I believe that the Bill can deliver, in saving lives, in empowering clinicians, in ensuring patient choice and in saving money for the NHS—so what’s not to like? I hope therefore that my right hon. Friend the Minister will consider carefully the issues raised in the Bill.