Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the NHS England publication, GE3 Hospital Medicines Optimisation and the Biological Medicines Commissioning Framework on 12 September 2017, what criteria his Department has set to determine the best value biologic.

It is important that patients and clinicians together determine which is the best value biologic appropriate to an individual’s clinical needs. We consider that both cost to the National Health Service and clinical appropriateness for a patient should be used by patients and clinicians to determine best value.

NHS England will be working with pharmacy procurement specialists, with input from clinicians and patients, to determine the best approach. The aim will be to strike the right balance between individual patient need and good value for the NHS.