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 potential impact of the cap mechanism in the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access on (a) levels of investment in late stage clinical trials and (b) decisions taken by pharmaceutical companies regarding (i) whether and (ii) when to launch medicines in the UK.

The Government has assessed the link between the cap mechanism in our medicine pricing schemes and various kinds of investment in our impact assessment of recent updates to the statutory scheme for branded medicines pricing, which operates alongside the voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access (VPAS). The Government’s 2023 impact assessment of updates to the statutory scheme is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-update-to-the-2023-statutory-scheme-to-control-the-costs-of-branded-health-service-medicines

The Government is working to better understand the impacts the operation of the current VPAS on the United Kingdom’s life sciences industry. We are in direct conversations with pharmaceutical companies, including in the recent pre-negotiation workshops, as well as the Department for Science Innovation and Technology, and Department for Business and Trade about the business environment for life sciences.

Controlling medicine spend is a key departmental aim for both current and future schemes to improve patient outcomes by simplifying, streamlining, and improving access, pricing, and uptake arrangements for cost effective medicines, and deliver faster adoption of most clinically and cost-effective medicines.