Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 14 March (HL5699), and as set out in the attachment to the Written Answer NICE nMABs appraisal committee paper, what assessment they have made of the finding that the prioritised list of people with conditions for which it may be clinically advantageous to receive neutralising monoclonal antibodies prophylaxis numbers 1.8 million.

The Independent Advisory Group (IAG) chaired by Prof. Iain McInnes was commissioned by the Department to consider which cohorts should be eligible for treatment for COVID-19. The report was published on 30 May 2022 and has defined the cohort of patient eligible for neutralising monoclonal antibodies and antivirals treatments for COVID-19. In May, our estimate was that this cohort totals around 1.8 million patients in England.

The IAG was also commissioned to consider the cohorts that would potentially be eligible for COVID-19 prophylaxis (PrEP). This report formed part of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Single Technology Appraisal considerations into Evusheld as prophylaxis. Whilst estimates have been made as to the total size of this cohort, it is unclear who would be prioritised within these groups should a prophylactic treatment become available. An update to this PrEP IAG report will be published on GOV.UK in due course.