Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Innovative Medicines Fund in increasing access to gene therapies.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service in England on whether all new licensed medicines represent a clinically effective and cost-effective use of NHS resources. NICE has been able to recommend several gene therapies for routine funding and they are now routinely available to NHS patients in line with NICE’s recommendations. No gene therapies have been recommended for use through the Innovative Medicines Fund and NICE continues to consider the suitability of medicines for the Fund with individual companies.