Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase NHS capacity to deliver intravitreal injections to accommodate the prospective, novel treatment of geographic atrophy.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is currently supporting clinical trials for a number of medicines relating to geographic atrophy, including intravitreal injections. It will review the quality, safety and efficacy of these products should the manufacturers apply for licenses.

All new licensed medicines are subsequently appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and guidance issued to the National Health Service. In the absence of NICE’s guidance, local commissioners should consider the available evidence when determining funding for new treatments and the capacity of the local NHS to deliver the service.