Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the status is of negotiations between Roche and NHS England on access to ocrelizumab for people with primary progressive MS on the NHS; and if he will take steps to help the two parties reach an agreement to deliver access to that drug.

In November 2018, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, met with Roche to discuss life sciences, and briefly discussed the negotiations between Roche and NHS England on ocrelizumab. Similarly, the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Lord O’Shaughnessy) met with Roche in December 2018. Both Ministers encouraged the on-going negotiations and agreed that these negotiations needed to continue in order to ensure the best conclusion for both parties, and patients that suffer from primary progressive multiple sclerosis. Those discussions are rightly for NHS England and Roche and it would not be appropriate for Ministers to intervene.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing technology appraisal guidance on the use of ocrelizumab for the treatment of primary progressive multiple sclerosis. NHS England is in discussions with Roche, the manufacturer of ocrelizumab, to seek to agree a commercial agreement that might enable NICE to recommend use of the drug.