Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the differences in (a) development, (b) manufacturing and (c) regulatory costs of biosimilar and generic medicines.

We recognise that there may be differences in development, manufacturing or regulatory costs for biosimilars compared to generics, arising, for example, from pharmacovigilance and other manufacturing and licencing requirements, but no such assessment has been made.