Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that new drugs developed in part with financial support from government are made available to NHS patients.

Through its technology appraisal programme, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on the clinical and cost effectiveness of new drugs and other treatments. NHS commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance.

The Government wants patients to access cost effective, innovative drugs and technologies quickly at a price that the NHS can afford and to create a more attractive environment for innovators. That is why we commissioned the Accelerated Access Review, which reported in October 2016.