Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower the unit cost of the drug Enhertu.

Ministers met with the manufacturers of Enhertu, AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo, in November 2024 to encourage them to engage constructively with NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to reach a commercial agreement that would enable patient access for patients with HER2-low metastatic breast cancer.

Enhertu for HER-2 low metastatic breast cancer remains the only breast cancer treatment that NICE has been unable to recommend for patients in the last eight years. This was because, at the price offered by the company in 2024, the treatment was too expensive for the benefits it provided and NICE concluded it was not cost effective. Despite NICE and NHS England offering unprecedented flexibilities, the companies were unable to offer Enhertu at a cost-effective price.

As part of the US-UK trade arrangement, announced in December 2025, NICE is now using a new higher cost-effectiveness threshold. Given these new circumstances, discussions involving NICE, the manufacturers and NHS England have resumed to try to seek agreement on a commercial offer that would make Enhertu cost effective. NICE stands ready to consider reviewing the guidance if new evidence, including a new commercial offer, were to be put forward by the company.