Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when, if at all, they expect that the drug abiraterone will be available on NHS prescription in England; and why NHS England has not made it available while it is in Scotland and Wales.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new, licenced medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources.

The NICE has published guidance recommending abiraterone for the treatment of metastatic hormone-relapsed prostate cancer before chemotherapy is indicated, and for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer previously treated with a docetaxel-containing regimen. NHS England funds abiraterone for these indications of prostate cancer in line with the NICE’s recommendations, making it routinely available for clinicians to prescribe to eligible patients.

The NICE was unable to recommend abiraterone for use in the treatment of newly diagnosed, hormone-sensitive, metastatic prostate cancer in its guidance published in 2021. However, the NICE is preparing to review this technology appraisal to determine whether to recommend abiraterone for this indication at current prices, following the patent expiry for abiraterone. Further information will be available on the NICE's website in due course.

Pending the outcome of this review, NHS England has published an interim clinical commissioning policy on 13 December 2024 that will make abiraterone acetate and prednisolone available as a routine commissioning treatment option, within the criteria set out in the policy for patients with newly diagnosed high-risk hormone-sensitive metastatic prostate cancer.

Health is a devolved matter and decisions on the availability of medicines in Scotland and Wales are a matter for their own administration.