Orkambi

(asked on 17th June 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what contingency plans his Department has put in place in the event that Vertex declines NHS England’s latest offer for the supply of Orkambi.


Answered by
Seema Kennedy Portrait
Seema Kennedy
This question was answered on 20th June 2019

NHS England is leading the negotiations with Vertex and has made a revised and improved offer to Vertex that would provide immediate funding for Orkambi, and Symkevi in advance of assessment by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and expanded access to Kalydeco which is already funded on the National Health Service for certain patients.

The Government fully supports NICE and NHS England in seeking to ensure access for patients to effective and innovative medicines at a price that represents value to the NHS, and it is not for Ministers to intervene in this process. The Department’s approach remains to urge Vertex to accept NHS England’s generous offer, but we will explore other options to ensure patients can access treatments as soon as possible.

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