Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that people with cystic fibrosis have access to Orkambi, Symkevi and Kaftrio on the NHS.

In July 2024, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved three disease modifying treatments, Orkambi, Symkevi, and Kaftrio, as treatment options for eligible National Health Service patients with cystic fibrosis, under the terms of a commercial agreement reached between NHS England and the manufacturer, Vertex. These treatments are now routinely funded by the NHS in England for eligible patients.

Across England, further access to Orkambi, Symkevi, and Kaftrio on the NHS for people with cystic fibrosis who do not meet the eligibility requirements in the NICE guidance, is guided by the NHS England commissioning statement at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-england-commissioning-statement-arrangements-for-access-to-cystic-fibrosis-transmembrane-conductance-regulator-cftr-modulators-for-licensed-and-off-label-use-in-patients-with-cystic-fibrosis/

This means that means approximately 95% of people with cystic fibrosis in England are now eligible for modulator therapy.

NICE is an England-only body. Health is largely a devolved matter and decisions on the availability of medicines for use in the NHS in the devolved administrations is a matter for the devolved government.