Business of the House

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. I recognise that his EDM has secured support from a number of Members on both sides of the House, and rightly so, because it is a concern for our constituents that they are not subject to these exploitative and damaging rogue traders and others. I cannot promise a debate immediately, but I will of course raise the matter with my hon. Friends to see whether they can reply to him and other Members or inform the House a little more about how they are addressing some of these issues.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

Last week the Government announced that they plan to introduce an early access to medicines scheme. Such a scheme was a central point in the recent report by the all-party group on muscular dystrophy. Will the Leader of the House provide some time to debate the scheme, and will he ask the relevant Minister to meet me, patients and representatives from the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign to discuss it further?

[Mr Lansley]

I will of course ask my hon. Friends at the Department of Health whether they might be able to meet the hon. Lady. I cannot promise an immediate debate, but this is an important issue, and I hope that we may have such an opportunity before too long. The early access to medicines scheme, like the breakthrough fund in America, raises the real possibility that, in addition to what we have already done through the cancer drugs fund, which provides the ability to access licensed medicines, drugs that have evident efficacy and safety can be made available through the NHS, even before the point at which they have been through all the formal licensing processes, for patients who often have relatively few other opportunities.