Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the UK-US Pharmaceutical deal on patient access to medicines.

The United Kingdom has secured mitigations under the United States’ ‘Most Favoured Nation’ drug pricing initiative so that we will continue to ensure access to the latest treatments. This will encourage pharmaceutical companies from around the world to prioritise the UK for early launches of their new medicines, getting new treatments to the National Health Service frontline faster and securing our access to and supply of medicines for patients all across the NHS.

The agreement will see the NHS invest approximately 25% more in innovative treatments, the first major increase in over two decades, meaning patients will now be able to access cutting-edge therapies that may have otherwise been deemed not cost-effective. This could include breakthrough cancer treatments, therapies for rare diseases, and innovative approaches to conditions that have long been difficult to treat.