Oral Answers to Questions

Siobhain McDonagh Excerpts

Tuesday 7th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Nicola Blackwood]

AMR is a global issue. We are world leaders in this, and we are working proactively with international partners to identify new and innovative approaches to the treatment of a range of challenging resistant infections, including malaria.

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

11. What assessment he has made of how the accelerated access review will improve access to breast cancer drugs.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Nicola Blackwood)]

We are absolutely determined that we will improve access to cost-effective, innovative medicines, including breast cancer drugs. That is exactly why we introduced the cancer drugs fund.

[Siobhain McDonagh]

The Minister will know that “cost-effective” is not an easy thing to define. Many women will not get access to the breast cancer drugs they need unless there is a review of how NICE assesses cost-effectiveness. Will she support an independent review of those processes, and will she say something about off-patent cancer drugs?

[Nicola Blackwood]

The hon. Lady and I have debated this in the House before. It is worth looking at our record. The cancer drugs fund has helped 95,000 people to access cancer drugs, to the tune of £1.2 billion, and NICE has approved three breast cancer drugs, while there are others that it has not yet approved. It is important that politicians do not intervene in this debate, as these are very difficult decisions that will always be challenging in the situation where the NHS has a finite budget.