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 effectiveness of the Early Access to Medicines Scheme in ensuring that patients have access to promising and innovative medicines as early as possible.

Since the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS) was launched in 2014, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has awarded 50 promising innovative medicines designations and 21 positive scientific opinions as part of the scheme. NHS England records show that 1,100 patients in England have accessed treatment through EAMS.

Since the publication of the independent review of the EAMS the Government has made a number of improvements. Partners have worked together to provide updated guidance on the benefits and entry requirements for EAMS and are developing further guidance on collecting real world data in the National Health Service to further inform value assessment in a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraisal.

We have also established the EAMS task group to provide a forum for industry to engage and make suggestions to the Government, the devolved administrations and arm’s length bodies regarding EAMS as per the recommendations of the 2016 review.

We are also applying the learning from EAMs to the development of the Accelerated Access Pathway. Due to launch shortly, this will be a streamlined route to market which will help get the most innovative treatments to patients faster.