Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any delay in purchasing drugs such as Evusheld or Beblitovimab is because of budget limitations; and whether they are will now allocate funding to purchase these new treatments.

COVID-19 treatments must be effective against the currently circulating variants in the United Kingdom and be granted marketing authorisation prior to procurement. Evusheld was granted conditional marketing authorisation in March 2022. However, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency raised uncertainty on the dosage required for protection against the Omicron variant. The UK Health Security Agency is currently undertaking further testing on Evusheld’s effectiveness against Omicron. While the data for Beblitovimab shows efficacy against the Omicron variants currently circulating, the treatment has not received marketing authorisation in the UK.

There is currently no funding allocated for these treatments. However, funding for additional procurement of novel treatments is considered on a case-by-case basis, as guided by clinical need and subject to business cases and due process.