Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Erwinase will be available for the treatment for children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia between January 2019 and March 2019; and if he will make a statement.

Erwinase is produced by Porton Biopharma Ltd (PBL) and is licensed and distributed by Jazz Pharmaceuticals under a global licencing agreement.

Due to increased demand for Erwinase and because PBL are manufacturing at capacity, until increases in capacity are brought into beneficial use there will be occasional stock-outs.

The product is currently in stock in the United Kingdom. The Department has been informed, it is likely there will be a short stock-out in early February 2019 and then a further batch is planned to be released to Jazz Pharmaceuticals, who are responsible for the packaging/distribution and allocation of worldwide product supply, anticipated to reach the UK market by mid-February 2019 which should last until the end of March 2019.

The Department and Public Health England (PHE) are in close contact with, and have been kept informed by the PBL management of short periods of interrupted supply. PBL have and will be implementing a series of initiatives to increase capacity and better supply the market in both the short and long term. PBL are fully aware of the consequences that the unavailability of Erwinase has on patients and are absolutely committed to working with all involved to resolve any issues and be able to supply this critical medicine.

The Department and PHE will continue to monitor the situation closely.