Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the NICE draft guidance ID681 which recommends that nivolumab is not recommended for the adjuvant treatment of melanoma.

We have made no such assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and it would not be appropriate for the Department to interfere in the development of NICE’s recommendations

While NICE was unable to recommend Nivolumab for routine funding in its draft recommendation of November 2020 (ID1681), this is not final guidance and a consultation on the draft recommendations closed on 25 November. NICE will now consider the responses to the draft recommendation and expects to publish its final guidance in March 2021.