Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Sipavibart can be provided through the NHS to immunosuppressed people.

Decisions on the routine availability of licensed medicines for National Health Service patients in England are made on the basis of recommendations by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). NICE plays an important role in ensuring that medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources before they are routinely funded. The NHS is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of final guidance.

NICE aims wherever possible to issue recommendations on new medicines close to the point of licensing and started its appraisal of the medicine sipavibart for preventing COVID-19 ahead of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s decision. NICE’s appraisal process is however currently suspended as the manufacturer, AstraZeneca, has been unable to provide an evidence submission as planned. NICE is currently awaiting notification from AstraZeneca on when it can make a submission and will update stakeholders in due course.