Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Institute of Cancer Research's report entitled Cost-utility analysis of adding abiraterone acetate plus prednisone/prednisolone to long-term hormone therapy in newly diagnosed advanced prostate cancer in England: Lifetime decision model based on STAMPEDE trial data, published on 2 June 2022.

Abiraterone has a United Kingdom marketing authorisation for the treatment of metastatic hormone-relapsed prostate cancer before chemotherapy is indicated, and for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer previously treated with a docetaxel-containing regimen. It has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for use within these licensed indications. It is currently routinely funded by the National Health Service in England for its NICE-recommended indications, in line with the legal requirement.

Abiraterone does not have a UK marketing authorisation for use in the treatment of hormone sensitive, non-metastatic prostate cancer. Decisions on routine NHS funding for cancer medicines outside of their licensed indications, or “off-label”, are taken by NHS England through its specialised commissioning function, taking into account the available evidence and affordability.

NHS England considered abiraterone as an off-label treatment for hormone sensitive, non-metastatic prostate cancer through its clinical policy development process in 2024/25. Through this process, NHS England confirmed that there was sufficient supporting evidence to support the routine commissioning of abiraterone in this indication, and it was ranked in the highest priority level. However, NHS England could not identify the necessary recurrent funding to support commissioning of abiraterone, or any other treatments within the prioritisation round.