Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency can license the drug bevacizumab in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration in the absence of an application by the company that holds the patent.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), an executive agency of the Department of Health, is responsible for the licensing of medicines. The MHRA is only able to assess and grant a licence for a particular use of a medicine once an application has been made and supporting data have been submitted to demonstrate that the quality, safety and efficacy of the medicine are satisfactory for the intended use.