Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that patients with (a) severe asthma and (b) other conditions that place them at higher risk from covid-19 are able to access new medicines; and whether his Department has plans to prioritise appraisals for those medicines for review.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for providing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service in England on whether medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. Wherever possible, NICE aims to publish final guidance for new medicines, including those used to treat patients with severe asthma and other high risk conditions, within 90 days of licensing. NHS commissioners are legally required to make funding available for treatments recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of NICE’s final guidance.