Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the NHS geographic availability is of Palforzia as of September 2024; and if he will publish a regional breakdown the number of people that received Palforzia on the NHS since 2022.
Palforzia is a peanut immunotherapy drug that helps reduce the severity of children's allergic reactions that may occur with exposure to peanuts. Data on the number and geographical location of children that have had access to Palforzia in England is not held by the Department.
The adoption of new treatments into the National Health Service in England is generally the result of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance and commissioner decisions. NHS England and integrated care boards are required to put access in place for any treatment that carries a positive recommendation from the Technology Appraisal programme, operated by the NICE.
Where treatments are approved by the NICE through the Technology Appraisal programme, the NHS is required to make them available within agreed timescales. Implementation of any NICE approvals should be supported by a service readiness assessment, and the development of additional capacity where necessary.