Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to develop a UK-wide policy for the purchase and evaluation of antimicrobials following the announcement of a subscription deal for two antimicrobials for the NHS in England; what timeframe has been agreed for that process; and what opportunities will be in place for (a) the UK and (b) international stakeholders to contribute to that process.

In July 2019, a pilot project was launched to develop and test a ‘subscription-style’ evaluation and payment model for antibiotics in England, which would pay pharmaceutical companies for access to antibiotics based on its value to the National Health Service, rather than the volume used. This payment model aims to incentivise pharmaceutical companies to develop new antimicrobials, despite the potential for the use of newly developed antibiotics to be ‘held back’ to protect against the threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Payments from NHS England to the two pharmaceutical companies involved in the pilot commenced on 1 July 2022. Officials are now considering how to develop the new frameworks for the evaluation and payment of new antimicrobials, including through consultation with domestic and international stakeholders. The consultation process will continue until spring 2023.

In June 2022, the previous Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (the Rt hon. Steve Barclay MP) invited health ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to engage in this process and assist in the evolution of this model. The devolved administrations have agreed in principle and officials in the United Kingdom will finalise the details of each nation’s participation. It will be for each devolved administration to decide if or how any agreed frameworks are implemented in their health system.

To support the adoption of similar models in other countries, findings from the pilot project have been published online and shared at international conferences. The Government has also advocated for such models internationally, such as during the UK’s 2021 G7 Presidency, where health and finance ministers have committed to explore options to bring new antimicrobials to market.