Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that women with incurable breast cancer have access to the drug, Trodelvy.

Trodelvy was licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for the treatment of metastatic triple negative breast cancer in August 2021. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is appraising Trodelvy, within its marketing authorisation, to determine its clinical and cost-effectiveness for use in the National Health Service. Following discussion with the manufacturer of Trodelvy, NICE has accelerated its appraisal and expects to issue guidance in June 2022, with draft guidance expected in spring 2022.

NHS England and NHS Improvement and NICE have agreed a set of principles to allow potential interim access to medicines ahead of NICE’s guidance and are working with the manufacturer to explore options for interim access to Trodelvy.