Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Early Access to Medicines Scheme to ensure that brain tumour patients are able to access the most promising treatments.

The early access to medicines scheme (EAMS) aims to give patients with life threatening or seriously debilitating conditions access to medicines that do not yet have a marketing authorisation when there is a clear unmet medical need.

Under the scheme, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will give a scientific opinion on the benefit/risk balance of the medicine, based on the data available when the EAMS submission was made and the EAMS criteria. The MHRA will make an evaluation of products, including drugs such as for brain tumour treatments, once an application is received.

If we do receive an application, it is only made public where an EAMS Scientific Opinion (SO) is awarded. All EAMS SOs are published on the EAMS webpage. All drugs that have previously held an EAMS SO are also published on the EAMS webpage.