Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 2.2 of the Government response to the Review on Antimicrobial resistance, published in September 2016, what plans he has to tackle the failure of market incentives to deliver public health need with regard to (a) cancer, (b) hepatitis C and (c) other conditions on account of high prices; and if he will make a statement.

The Government is committed to ensuring that patients have access to effective new drugs where they represent value to the taxpayer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that provides authoritative, evidence based guidance for the National Health Service on whether significant new medicines represent an effective use of NHS resources. The 2014 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme enables companies to offer patient access schemes to improve the value proposition of drugs undergoing assessment by NICE, such as through a discount on the list price. NHS commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended by NICE, normally within three months of final guidance.

These arrangements have helped to ensure that many thousands of patients have been able to access effective medicines that their clinician wants to prescribe, including patients with hepatitis C, cancer and other conditions.

We do not believe those market failures identified by the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance are relevant when considering these medicines.