Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with NHS England on the timetable for the introduction of Herceptin (trastuzumab) biosimilars for use in the NHS.

The Department has had no such discussions. We are informed by NHS England that discussions with biosimilar companies are ongoing and, as of yet, have no definitive date for launch of any of the biosimilar trastuzumab products. Once it is known when companies are likely to launch, NHS England can then look at a timetable for implementation.