Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2015 to Question 10868, on blood diseases: drugs, what assessment his Department has made of the date on which he will issue a tender for extended half-life products.

The timing of the tender is effectively predicated on the availability of licensed products. The Department is in dialogue with those suppliers understood to be concerned in this market to understand their potential capabilities.

NHS England has made no decision to develop a clinical commissioning policy for 'extended half-life products'. The potential need for policy will remain under review by the Clinical Reference Group with input from the Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit, as manufacturer’s products achieve licence and procurements are completed.