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 global pharmaceutical companies are required to prioritise patient access to drugs ahead of profit.

The Government is committed to ensuring that patients have access to medicines at prices that are fair and affordable to the National Health Service.

In the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, we have a system for making independent, authoritative, evidence-based decisions that means that taxpayers can be assured that the price we pay for new medicines reflects the value they bring. Where companies are willing to set prices for their products that reflect the benefits they bring to patients, it is a system that has helped to ensure access to effective new treatments for many thousands of NHS patients.

We are committed to accelerating patient access to innovative, life changing treatments, as well as supporting the United Kingdom’s position as a global leader in life sciences. The Early Access to Medicines Scheme gives people with life threatening or seriously debilitating conditions from across the UK early access to new medicines that do not yet have a marketing authorisation when there is a clear unmet medical need. Prior to market authorisation, companies provide their products for free to the NHS.

In addition, we have strengthened the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) to serve as the umbrella body for UK health innovation. The AAC brings together senior leaders from across Government, industry and the health and care system, to work together in a more joined up way, act as the front-door for innovator support and accelerate patient access to the best new treatments and technologies.