Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions NHS England officials have had with representatives of NICE on the commitment to a fast-track interim commissioning policy for interferon-free hepatitis C medicines made during the health technology assessment of sofosbuvir.

NHS England has advised that it responded to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal consultation for sofosbuvir in the standard way. Further clarification of NHS England’s readiness for commissioning the service was requested by NICE. This was responded to by letter. NHS England’s correspondence with NICE is published alongside other stakeholders’ comments on NICE’s website at

http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta330/documents

NHS England has advised that the Clinical Commissioning Policy Statement for the treatment of patients with compensated cirrhosis is in the process of final approvals by the Clinical Reference Group and once the proposal has been established will pass through the governance arrangements to the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group including, if required, a period of public consultation.