Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the decision of the US Administration to purchase global supplies of Remdesivir for the treatment of patients with covid-19; and if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of that decision on the treatment options for patients with covid-19 in the UK.

No discussions have taken place between the Department and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the decision of the United States Administration to purchase global supplies of remdesivir for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. The United Kingdom Government cannot comment on commercial arrangements that other countries may have agreed with pharmaceutical companies.

Remdesivir has been available to National Health Service patients with COVID-19 as part of clinical trials and through the Early Access to Medicines Scheme. Remdesivir has now been granted a conditional marketing authorisation for use in patients with COVID-19 and NHS England and NHS Improvement have published an interim commissioning policy, which states that NHS patients will be eligible for treatment in accordance with its licence. The NHS has sufficient stock for patients who need it.