Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with representatives of cystic fibrosis charities on the availability of Orkambi on the NHS for people with cystic fibrosis.

The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health (Lord O’Shaughnessy) met with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust (CFT) on 7 March 2017 following an adjournment debate in December 2016 on “Implications of the Accelerated Access Review (AAR) for Cystic Fibrosis and other Conditions” to discuss Orkambi. A meeting has also been scheduled between the Prime Minister and the Chief Executive of the CFT, David Ramsden, and the hon. Members for Dudley North (Ian Austin) and Hemel Hempstead (Sir Mike Penning), to discuss the availability of Orkambi.

Lord O’Shaughnessy and I wrote to Vertex in April following a Westminster Hall debate, to encourage the company to work with NHS England on a proposal that represents value to the National Health Service and the taxpayer.