Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of pembrolizumab in the treatment of HIV and cancer.

We have made no assessment.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for making recommendations for the National Health Service (NHS) on whether licensed medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources.

Pembrolizumab is licensed in the treatment of several different types of cancer and has been recommended by NICE subject to specified clinical criteria. Pembrolizumab is available to NHS patients in England in line with NICE’s recommendations. Further information about NICE’s published guidance on pembrolizumab for the treatment of some types of cancer is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/search?q=pembrolizumab.

Pembrolizumab is not currently licensed for the treatment of HIV.